Harry Potter: Lost Son
by psychopath556
Summary: A Harry Potter fan has been reincarnated into the Harry Potter universe and will be attending Hogwarts, but he hasn't been reincarnated into the Boy-Who-Lived, oh no he is the lost son of another Ancient and Most Nobel house, and with his knowledge of future events and his perspective on how things have come to pass, you can just bet that he is going to make one hell of a splash
1. Chapter 1

**Okay everyone this is a tester for a fiction I have been planning for a while, I just wanted to test the waters and get some reviews on this and get some feedback on the concept, so please take a few moments at the end to give me your opinions please, helpful criticism please, and no flames, I'll likely just ignore them anyway, remember this is my first time with a Harry Potter fiction so be nice.**

 **Now for those wondering beforehand, yes this chapter is from a single POV, but this won't be the case for the whole fiction there will be times where I will jump to third person POV when necessary.**

 **Pairings will happen in this fiction but not for a long time, and there will be no harem in this fiction, too complicated for me. Character bashing will happen as well, but it will be my personal choice on who is bashed, if you don't like my choices that's too bad, my fiction my rules.**

* * *

 **Chapter one- The lost son is found**

You ever have one of those mornings where you really don't want to get out of bed? Not because it felt so nice just to continue to lie on, but because you just couldn't be bothered to get up and do anything because your head felt like someone had beat it to a pulp with a nine iron?

Well if you have you'll be familiar with how I'm feeling right about now. My head's splitting but I don't remember drinking last night. In fact, I haven't had a drink that would cause this kind of a headache since that poker night the guys and I had a few weeks back, man that was a night. Right now I just want to curl up in my sheets and… wait these aren't my sheets, they don't feel right.

Forcing my eyes to open, I look at the bed covers and blink seeing they were red. Okay that wasn't right. My sheets are black and grey, something's not right here. Pulling the covers down I sit up in the bed that wasn't mine, it was wooden and not my leather frame. It was a four post instead of my base and headboard, this was not my bed.

Looking around as my eyes adjust to the lighting I can see I was in an old room that felt oddly familiar. The walls were plastered over with an old pale and brown wallpaper that looks to have faded over the years. The floor was wooden boards that looked just as old as the rest of the room. There was a wardrobe, a dresser and a desk in the room but not much else. I could see the door with was opposite a window, both looked just as old and worn as the room.

The more I looked around the more I felt I recognised this place but I couldn't put my finger on it. But the questions on my mind was, where the hell was I, and how did I get here? I bring my hand up to rub the bridge between my eyes to try and soothe my headache but when I saw my hand I stopped.

It was smaller, not the hand of a twenty-three-year-old but the hand of a young child. It had none of the scars I got in my teen years but felt so familiar. I turned my head and my eyes bulged as I looked to the dresser mirror and my eyes widened as I saw the reflection that I hadn't been paying attention to. It was me that I saw but not the twenty-three year old me that was staring back, rather it was an eleven or twelve-year-old me looking back at me.

My black hair was short like my mother used to keep it instead of my shoulder length hair that I grew out during my college years. I looked down at myself to see I wasn't seeing things as I threw the covers off me to see I was in a pair of grey long sleeves pyjamas. Getting out of the bed I stumbled a bit, not used to this body. I made my way over to the dresser, my eyes wide as I looked myself over. I looked exactly the same as I did when I was younger, except my brown eyes were grey now and my cheekbones were a little higher.

Taking a deep breath I tried to remember what had happened but the last thing I remember was that I went to bed after a long night of gaming like I usually did. I couldn't remember coming here at all, wherever here was.

Looking in the mirror something white caught my eye. On the bedside table there were two letters. Walking over I looked at them, they both looked strange. The paper was thicker than normal and the first had the words "read me" written on its front. While the second one had already been opened, its wax seal already pulled free from the lower half of the envelope.

I opened the first and took out the thick paper inside and started to read which only confused me more and first.

* * *

 _"Hello Magnus,_

 _I suppose you're wondering where you are and how you got here. And why you look like your eleven-year-old self again._

 _Well, the answer is simple, Magic. Your old life had come to an end, rather abruptly as it turns out. So you've been reincarnated into a new world. Most think reincarnation happens from the moment you die and then you begin a new life. That is the way it normally is but there is the odd occasion when it can happen in the first eleven years of a person's life so that way the souls can merge into one and there aren't a lot of memories to interweave with the new soul. Some of them will start filtering in a few minutes once you've finished reading this and your new world will become very much recognisable to you, if it hasn't already. From there it'll be up to you on how you want to proceed, the world will be at your fingertips to enjoy._

 _But I'll just give you a quick rundown of your new self so you know what to expect. You're human obviously. You're eleven years old. Your birthday is the same as your last life. Your name is the same, except for your last name that will come later, and you are a wizard._

 _Yes you read right you're a wizard, magic exists in this world and the second you read the next letter you'll realise just where you are, and I know it will blow your mind with the possibilities that are open for you to enjoy, have fun."_

* * *

I sat down on the bed as I finished reading as I tried to process the information. I… died, I just died then, and now I've been reincarnated. This is just too weird. I can't really think of any way to dispute what the letter is telling me. I mean, I was twenty-three before I went to sleep and now I'm eleven, this is just too insane not to be real.

As I read the letter again I felt myself swallow slightly. So I'm a wizard, that's cool I guess an eleven-year-old wizard that sounds so familiar in some way. Turning over the other letter I looked at it again and froze seeing the wax seal, it was a shield with four animals on it, a lion, a snake, a badger and an eagle, is that the crest I'm thinking of, it couldn't be… but it fits, am I in that world.

I quickly opened the letter and took out the thick sheet of paper inside, parchment that's what it was called, this type of paper. I unfolded it and read the starting line that any fan of the series has been wanting to read since reading the books and watching the movies.

"We are pleased to inform you, you have been accepted at Hogwarts School, for witchcraft and wizardry… holy shit, I'm in the world of Harry Potter." I said as I read the line out loud not actually believing it the first time. But the second I did I felt like my head was being squeezed as images flashed before my eyes, memories, but these weren't mine they were the soul's that mine joined with, it was the life that was lead before I took over.

Memories of growing up in an orphanage, of having small accidental bouts of magic that made other children stay away from me. That made the caretaker of the orphanage keep me at a distance. Memories of receiving my letter, of being met by Professor McGonagall and being told about magic. Being brought here, to the leaky cauldron in London and given instructions on what to do. I could remember it like I actually lived it, weird.

Folding the letter back up and put it away. I could remember what it said already having already read it once apparently. I couldn't help but smile like a kid, which I guess I am again. An actual Hogwarts acceptance letter, talk about a strange feeling. And these memories. I'm an orphan whose mother died in childbirth, my father was never in the picture for some reason and I grew up never feeling that I belonged with the other children in the orphanage. Well I could certainly see why now.

Looking at the letter I was excited by it. The idea of going to Hogwarts was something that anyone would be excited about… but then it hit me what this actually meant. I was in Magical Britain, not ten years ago they had been embroiled in a civil war with Voldemort, who's set to return in four years from now in the final stage of the tri-wizard tournament. War was only four years away and I'm going to be thrown headlong into the middle of it by attending Hogwarts.

Shit, how the hell am I meant to deal with this? I get a new life only to realise that I have only a few years until I have to fight for my life. If I'm a half-blood or a muggle born then I'm really in the shit, which is the only options I can think of right now. I'll be fair game to death eaters when the war starts.

Wait…do I have to go to Hogwarts, surely there could be other magical schools in Britain that I could try. With the number of witches and wizards in Britain, even after the war, surely one school wouldn't be able to support the entire populace for magical education. There was barely seven hundred students in it in the movies there has to be more. But then it's probably the largest and the most well-known, but it just doesn't add up… now that I think of it not much in the Harry Potter books do.

The war ten years ago. How could one man have caused magical Britain so much chaos? Sure he had a couple hundred death eaters, at most, and then a mix match of other dark creatures around him. But there was no way they outnumbered the rest of magical Britain if they all stood against him he wouldn't have lasted the week, horcrux's or not. It only took one deflected killing curse to destroy his body, did no one think to actually use one on him in the first place.

But then with Dumbledore and his order, plus the corrupt ministry, I would think that none of them would condone using a so called unforgiveable even if it was to end a war. It's ridiculous if you ask me, labelling magic as light or dark. Their whole system is flawed, a hammer is a tool but it can be used to kill a man, the same can be done with magic it's the intent behind its use. Magical Britain is just so stagnant that they just can't see it, they're stuck in the eighteen hundreds for Christ sake. They need a wakeup call.

Voldemort may have been a murderous bastard, but he had it right in the first book when he spoke on the matter, _"There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it"._

Sure there were lines that a guy shouldn't cross with magic that crosses over into evil, but used right magic wasn't good or evil it was just magic. But if the ends justify the means, using dark magic to kill a so-called dark lord, who would kill countless, I'm pretty sure that justifies it. The same as using dark magic to protect yourself and others, it's justified, not evil.

There was just so much about magical Britain's logic that didn't make sense, at least to me. Hogwarts was the main example of this looking at the school from a serious point of view it was a complete joke. There was an entire castle to used, filled with hundreds of rooms, but there was only nine maybe ten core subjects taught, with a further seven in the elective years after third year, and only a handful of extracurricular subject to choose from. That was at most thirty rooms' worth of classes, and how can one professor per subject possibly teach seven hundred students. High schools with the same number of students need at least four or five, and even if each class used two classrooms each there would still be loads of rooms unused. That was probably why Dumbledore was able to justify making an entire half floor of the school out of bounds in the first book for his little philosopher stone test.

On top of all this, there was just no way, that Hogwarts was able to teach all aspects of magic with such a limited staff and extremely short curriculum list. Seventeen classes in seven years, what a joke. What about conjuration, alchemy, enchanting, Wizard law, magical healing, and I'm sure there are loads more subjects that Hogwarts probably doesn't even touch on. So how was it the best wizarding school in Britain, unless all the others were even worse than this?

Shaking my head I set the letters down as I resolved to think about the flaws of magical Britain another time. If I continued now I'd never stop and I could probably write another series of books on the matter on just the flaws alone. Right now I had to focus. There were things I had to do now that I remembered what was going on.

I had to get my school stuff gathered up, but before that I had to go to Gringotts first. I remember professor McGonagall mention something about a student strip end for orphans attending Hogwarts. Maybe that was the reason I had to go there that Hogwarts was the only school that was able to take orphaned magical children, it would make sense in a way.

I quickly moved to get dressed as I saw my bag at the end of the bed with a couple of sets of spare clothes. I'd get breakfast after my business in the alley was done.

Once I was dressed in my jeans, t-shirt and jacket, I went to lift my Hogwarts letter, I blinked seeing that it was on its own, the other letter had disappeared. I guess it wasn't going to stay, it would be kind of hard to explain if someone found it. It's not exactly a fact I want people to know, if people knew I know what's going to happen in the future it could be very bad for me best to keep that fact on the down low.

With my letter in hand I headed over to the door out of my rented room. I knew the way down and out and my destination and I couldn't help but feel giddy with excitement as I walked down the corridor and the stairs as I thought about where I was actually going.

Stepping out the back door my eyes widened seeing a group of other people standing there as the wall parted. It was just as cool as in the movies watching the bricks part creating the doorway into the alley.

I walked through the gateway and into the alley after the people in front of me and I had to fight to keep my jaw from dropping. It was as amazing as I thought it would be, the alley was bustling with activity not as busy as in the movie but still very busy. I had to keep my head down as I made my way down the narrowed alley through the crowd.

This was something else that confused me about magical Britain. Surely there were other places to shop in the country other than the alley. This couldn't be the only place that catered to the magicals of Britain. There would be no way it could accommodate everyone. Maybe there were smaller places hidden out in other locations the books and movies just didn't touch on? That had to be the case, just like other magical schools, they weren't brought up till the tri-wizard tournament there were bound to be others.

Finally, after about ten minutes of weaving in and out of the crowded alley I made it to the steps of Gringotts bank and sighed a breath of relief after the rather annoying task, before straightening myself out and starting up the steps. My Hogwarts letter still in hand as I made my way inside.

Stepping inside I looked around in slightly awe at the size of the place. It was much larger inside than it was out and I quickly remembered the reason, magical size enchantments like on the tents that were used at the Quidditch world cup and Hermione's bag. One of those, or something similar, those could come in handy in the future.

As I made my way through the room I saw all the goblins moving around and some other wizards and witches speaking with different tellers at their benches. I didn't know the proper protocols to follow at this time though I had some ideas on things from reading fanfictions. But I didn't know if they counted, and the Wiki didn't really give much more than the basics and so I decided to just wing it for now and hope for the best.

Walking right up to the head teller at the tallest desk I cleared my throat, "Excuse me, my deepest apologies for disturbing you but I need some help." I spoke keeping my tone as strong as I could which wasn't much given I was eleven years old.

The small goblin stopped his scribbling and looked down at me with a raised eyebrow, "A young wizard with manners? Now this is a rare sight. What business does a child have with Gringotts bank, and be quick, less my sword find your throat. Time is gold." he spoke with an amused yet annoyed voice, likely trying to scare me, it didn't work.

I held up my letter to the goblin, "I was told to come to Gringotts to get my school funds to buy my supplies for Hogwarts, I was hoping you could help me." I stated plainly my voice solid.

The goblin took my letter giving me a curious look, likely because of my not reacting to his threat, and read through it quickly he nodded, "I see, very well, you will need to undergo an inherency test first, to check that you are indeed legible for the funds. If you have magical relatives they or your house would be required to pay for your schooling." he said as he waved his hand to another goblin who came over.

I heard them speak in some kind of language which I remembered was called goblin speak from the Wiki and before my letter was handed back to me, "This goblin will show you to a meeting room where you shall have your blood tested. If you are not part of any house you shall be given the key to a Hogwarts student vault with your funds inside." he said in dismissal.

I nodded and turned to follow the goblin who lead me to a set of double doors where I was lead inside, "Wait here" the goblin said gruffly before leaving.

Looking around the room I could see there was decorated rather nicely, though it could do with a clean. There was a solid wood desk and two chairs in the middle of the room where I assumed I was to wait and so sat down in the chair facing the door to wait to be met.

After a minute or so the doors opened and a goblin came in pulling a large wooden box on wheels, he looked to me before grinning, "Are you the to-be-student, who's here for an inherency test?" he asked.

I nodded my head stiffly, "I am." I replied as I watched the goblin approach the desk before stopping to open the wooden box and taking out a stone bowl that had a number of carved runes on its rim with a red ruby in its centre, and a curved knife with similar runes.

"I need your blood boy." the goblin said with a grin as he sat at the desk and placed the bowl in front of me.

I looked at the bowl before speaking, "How much do you need for the test?" I asked straight.

That seemed to take the goblin back for a moment at my unflinching, it would appear some of the fanfictions were right, goblins did like to make wizards squirm. Well I must have been a bit of a shock for them.

Shaking the shock off, the goblin cleared his throat, "Five drops will be sufficient," he said before handing me the knife.

I nodded back taking the knife and pressing the tip to the tip of my index finger and pressing hard enough to break the skin before holding it over the bowl and letting five drops fall in before taking my hand away.

I watch on with slight awe as I watched the cut close up as the same time as the runes on the blade glowed. So that's what they were for. I handing the knife back to the goblin.

As the goblin took the bowl back I watched on as he tapped the runes in a sequence as they light up and my blood was soaked into the ruby in the centre of the bowl. Seconds before a thick black smoke started to poor out of it, floating up and forming a shield.

My eyes widened as I recognised it from the wiki, I had seen it a number of times and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was a shield divided into two, the top half with an armoured arm holding a sword and the bottom part with three birds, ravens or crows, I felt my mouth open seeing it before I looked at the goblin who looked to be just as shocked as I before he cleared his throat.

"Well this is most surprising, it would appear child that you are a lost son of the most ancient and most noble house of Black." the goblin spoke as I looked back up at the crest as it faded away.

I was a Black, like Sirius, but…. But… "How?" I asked openly not understanding how this could be, I knew that Sirius didn't have any kids, unless he did and I was him. I just couldn't think how else this would be possible.

The goblin grinned, "Let's find out, shall we," he said as he moved to the box and took out a quill and a sheet of parchment. "I will need some more of your blood," the goblin explained handing the bowl and knife back to me, "ten drops this time. Once it's done I will use the quill to trace back your magical family lines for three generations on either family side. After that I'm required to hand you over to your families account manager, I believe he will have a number of things to discuss with you now that you have been identified as a son of the house of Black."

I nodded taking the knife and once again cutting my finger and giving the required blood into the bowl. The same thing happened as before as I watched the cut on my finger heal before I passed the bowl over.

The goblin place the quill in the blood and in a couple of seconds it soaked it all in before he placed it on the parchment and we watched the magic take effect. The quill lifted up into the air and then proceeded to write, starting with my name and then going backwards. I watched with wide eyes as I saw my birth father's name written next to Sirius and my eyes were fixed on it.

"Regulus Arcturus Black is… my father?" I said in awe watching as the quill writes three generations backwards of the Black line before it started on my mother's side, "And, Alisha Parker, was my mother?" I said looking on as I saw the quill scroll back three generations of the Parker family before stopping and falling still on the parchment.

The goblin quickly took the parchment and looked it over, "Yes it would seem that your mother was a third generation witch, born to a lower power magical family but with three generations in her. She would be seen by most wizards to be better than most born from muggles, though not by much. But enough to make you the equivalent of a pure blood being both her child and the son of a pure blooded house with such lineage as the house of Black." he said before rolling the parchment up. "I will take this to the account manager for your new house so that he can confirm it. He will be with you momentarily to continue your business with Gringotts." before moving to collect the other items back into the wooden box and dragging it behind him as he left the room.

I sat there as I tried to contemplate just what this meant. I was a Black… I was the son Regulus Black…that would make Sirius Black… my uncle. But if Sirius was removed from the Black family that would make me the last one of the Black family wouldn't it?

As I sat there trying to contemplate just what was happening the doors to the meeting room opened once again and another goblin came in this one wearing an all-black suit looking older than the last. I noticed he had the Black's house crest on a black sash over his coat, he immediately walked up to the table and looked at me with a somewhat hard gaze for a moment before speaking.

"Master Black, My name is Ironclaw, I am the account manager for the ancient and most noble house of Black. It is an honour to meet you, and a relief to know that the house of Black has once again been revived with your discovery." he spoke with respect to me.

I had absolutely no idea where to begin right now. All this information in my head I didn't know where to start so until I had time to sit down and make a plan the best thing to do would be to go with the flow of things.

I steeled myself and nodded, "Thank you, Account Manager Ironclaw, your words are most welcome. However I'm slightly uninformed at the moment being raised outside of the wizarding world, and behind on some things… I would seek your council as to how I should proceed from here. As you are no doubt loyal to my apparent house I believe I should trust your advice on things." I replied knowing it could be taken one of two ways, luckily it went the better way. He grinned.

"Well I can see that you are quite wise seeking the help of others Master Black, and yes you are right, I and those of my clan have been loyal to the house of Black for close to two hundred years. It would be my honour to aid you until you can keep your own council." he said giving me a toothy grin, "Now, as you said you are just now re-joining the magical world I would ask if you have had your inoculations as of yet."

I paused for a minute before speaking, "I have had my inoculations for mundane diseases but if I am to go by what you are suggesting then there are others I am in need of… for the magical kind?" I asked.

Ironclaw nodded, "Yes, young master there are. Normally I would send any common wizard to the wizarding hospital St Mungo's for theirs but for the last son of the house of black I would recommend seeing a Goblin healer for such as it would be faster and we can also offer a full magical scan to gauge any other latent magical abilities you have, house Black had a few in generations past, it could be possible that they reawakened in you." he added. "Our healers are trained in both wizard and goblin treatment. Given that Gringotts employs a number of wizards for various tasks. It is beneficial to be able to treat them in-house, should something go wrong on a job, rather than send them to be treated at a wizard hospital."

I thought for a moment as I seemed to recall some mentions of magical diseases in the books, dragon pox and the like, I nodded, "Yes thank you Ironclaw. I believe I will take you up on that offer." I said with a bow of my head.

Ironclaw bowed back, "Of course Young master. Please follow me and I will see you to our healers personally."

Following Ironclaw, the goblin lead me from the meeting room and deeper into the bank and the through serval more doors until we came to a set of larger white doors. Passing through we came into what looked like an examination room and to the side sat a goblin in a white suit who turned to us as we entered. Ironclaw immediately approached him and the two conversed in goblin speak as I looked over the room.

There was a metal table with a thin cloth over it with a moveable curtain to provide privacy. In the display cases on the walls, there were jars that looked to be filled with different things ranging eyeballs of different animals to various fungi.

Hearing the talking stop I turned to the goblin pair as they approached me.

"Master Black, it is an honour to be able to provide aid to one of such an honourable and old house such as yours." the goblin stated giving a bow, "My name is Healer Bolgrif, and your Account manager informs me that you require Gringotts services in a medical review at this time and inoculations for diseases of the magical variety."

I nodded, "Yes that is true Healer Bolgrif. I have just recently re-joined the magical world and find myself unprepared in such matters so I asked my account manager to aid me in such, and here we are." I stated

Bolgrif nodded, "Indeed. Well if you would like to have a seat on the table I will retrieve the potions for you to take and I will then perform a magical medial scan in order to see if there is anything else I can aid you with before we move on to your magical check."

I nodded and moved to sit down on the table as instructed and waited a few moments as the goblin leaves the room for a few minutes only to return with a wooden box with a number of phials. He then set it on the table beside me, "Drink these Master Black, they will inoculate you from all known magical diseases." he instructed.

I nodded and took up one of the phials and uncorked it giving a wince as I caught the scent, it was revolting, like someone had put three week old socks in a blender and put it on high, all I could do was hold my breath as I swallowed down each phial and try not to gag as each one tasted worse than the last.

As I set the last empty phial down I blanched, "That was probably the single most disgusting experience of my life." I said trying not to throw up from the aftertaste.

Bolgrif and Ironclaw gave a chuckle at my expense as Bolgrif stepped forward and raised a small wand and started to wave it in front of me, "Yes most say that. But better the taste than the diseases they protect against." he said before he started to chant as the tip of his wand glowed and I felt the magic wash over me like a tingling sensation against my skin.

I sat up and let him continue his scan for a few minutes more before he stopped and nodded, "Master Black, I can find no other ailments on yourself at this time that will not naturally fix themselves on their own as you age and grow. With your permission I would begin your magical scan to test your magical core and check for any latent magical abilities." he asked politely.

I swallowed slightly, a little nervous and nodded, "Yes please continue healer Bolgrif." I instructed as politely as I could back.

Bolgrif nodded back and raised his wand as he started to chant again. This time his wand tip glowing a bright blue instead of the white glow from before, and slowly as he continued the glow separated and small orbs of light broke off and changed colour for reasons I couldn't identify. Although apparently they were important as with each one Bolgrif raised an eyebrow and looked a little more excited as he continued. By the end there were three small lights in front of me, one a bright blue, the other a bright silver and a third a bright green.

Lowering his wand Bolgrif grinned, "Well this is certainly a welcome surprise." he stated looking to my account manager, "It would seem you were right. Some of the Black family abilities have resurfaced." he stated.

After a moment I cleared my throat, "Would someone please tell me what these lights mean?" I asked as politely as I could. I was getting a little annoyed about being left in the dark here.

Bolgrif turned back to me with a toothy grin, "Of course master Black, my apologies." he stated before indicating to the light blue light, "This orb represents your magical cores state. It is healthy and a good size for someone your age, indicating you will be magically powerful as you grow older." he explained before moving on to the silver orb.

"This one is a latent magical ability that was thought lost to the Black family line, but it would appear with the addition of new blood and magic to the line has been enough to awaken it once more, if partially. Possessors of this ability can change their appearance at will with practice. Those with this skill are called Metamorphmagus. Though only partially awakened you will now have the range of abilities as a full user would have. You will still be able to do minor changes, Congratulations" he said giving me a toothy grin before moving on to the last,

"And this green orb represents another ability this one a full ability that you will be able to learn. Some wizards learn how to transform into different animals. This ability is called being an Animagus. Some are born with the ability to use this more easily than others, once you have learned what form you can take on you will find it easier than your peers should any of them try to achieve such transformations." he finished.

I sat there in shock hearing this as I tried to comprehend what I was being told. Not only was I magical but I possessed two kick-ass skills, that I could learn and use. This was getting better by the minute, wait… Metamortphmagus… isn't that what Tonks is. Holy shit I'm related to Tonks… and … Bellatrix, Draco… er, not sure how I feel about those last two. I felt like an idiot now that I heard about my skills. I remember reading about such on the Wiki and the fanfictions, it was obvious.

Quickly snapping back to reality I blinked, "Cool." I said plainly not really sure how else to react to the news openly. I didn't want to give away anything like how I already knew about all this when I wasn't meant to.

Ironclaw nodded, "Indeed Master Black now if you would follow me to my office. You need to don your heir ring before we can continue with any further business you have today." he said before gesturing to the door.

I nodded and got off the table, before looking to the other goblin, "Thank you for your assistance Healer Bolgrif, your help has been most appreciated." I said giving a bow of my head.

Bolgrif smile back at me, "It was my pleasure to aid the house of Black, young master." he returned before both I and Ironclaw left the room and started back down the corridor.

As we walked my mind was racing a mile a minute as I tried to think what all this meant now, there was so much happening and so fast. I needed to prioritise. If the heir ring was like I had read about in fan fictions before it was going to make me next in line for the title of Lord Black, when I came of age, whenever that would be. I clearly needed more information.

"Account manager Ironclaw?" I spoke curiously, "What is this ring you spoke of earlier, and what is an heir?" I asked doing my best to sound like a curious child.

Ironclaw glanced over his shoulders towards me as he spoke, "As you are the last Son of a Son of the house of Black, the line of inherency falls to you making you the heir apparent of the House of Black, the Ring signifies this. When you reach your majority at sixteen you will become Lord Black unless emancipated before such when you can take up your title earlier."

"Emancipated?" I asked still using my best curious tone.

Ironclaw nodded, "It means you would be recognised as an adult and not as a child. Such automatically happens when you reach your majority." he explained as we neared his office.

Okay, that was yet another thing I would have to research when I had time. While I had read a number of fictions that involved the taking up of lordship where the character was emancipated. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea yet. I had no clue on what was fact and what was fiction so I would be better to hold off on that until I got a proper lay of the land as it were.

As we arrived back in his office I noted it was well kept and furnished much like the rest of the bank. Account managers must all get their own offices for some reason or another likely so they can manage more important accounts who would like their finances kept secret. I could understand that much.

As we entered I was gestured to wait as Ironclaw made his way over to the large vault within his office. I watched on as he ran his finger down the middle of the door as I heard the sounds of the internal mechanics clicking open before he opened it, retrieving an ornate wooden box form inside before returning to me and opening it.

Inside laid on the black cloth interior was cameo styled ring sitting with its circular head pointed towards me. The black sapphire gem flashed with the house black crest for a moment before fading to leave only the sapphire.

I took a moment to look at it before reaching out and taking it. The gold of the ring felt cold to the touch and it was rather large. I knew that I wouldn't be able to wear it. But no sooner had I put it on my finger than I saw the gold flash and then the band shrunk to match my finger width before there was a rush of what I can only describe as something cold rushing through my veins for several moments before it faded and I let out a gasp and panted slightly suddenly feeling very drained.

"W-What was that?" I asked as I tried to get my breath back.

Ironclaw only smiled at me as he closed the lid of the box. "That was the final confirmation that you ae indeed the heir black. It was the heir ring confirming you were worthy to wear the ring and as such worthy to be the Black heir and then the next Lord Black. My apologies for not telling you about it but it was not my place to do so." he said with a bow of his head before he turned to take the box back to his vault and close the door without another word.

I took several deep breaths trying to get my breathing back under control. I looked at the ring before I spoke, "and if it didn't judge me worthy to be the heir and I put it on?" I asked not sure I wanted to know.

Ironclaw gave me a grin, "That would depend on if you weren't a Black. If you weren't then the family magic in the ring would have simply killed you, very slowly. As you are a Black you would have only been in a lot of pain until you passed out. then the ring would have removed itself from your finger by shrinking so much that it cut it off." he said as if it was common knowledge.

I did my best not to gulp hearing that and thanked whatever deity there was looking out for me. I forgot that house Black was a rather dark house, of course, their heir ring would be cursed to do something like that to discourage any who wasn't the heir.

Ironclaw then cleared his throat, "Congratulations heir Black. Now if it pleases you I can take you down to your family vault for you to collect any gold you may need as well as browse you're other belongings."

I thought for a moment on that. I did need to gather some gold for my school supplies, but I was also curious just what else was in the vault. Part of me was wary of them, given the Black's history. I'd just have to be careful this was too good an opportunity to pass up. Who knows what I could find down there to help me. I nodded, "Lead the way."

Ironclaw nodded and we soon departed his office heading for the carts.

* * *

 **Scene break**

That was intense. The books and the movies don't do the cart system justice. It was completely mind-blowing and thrilling, and I'm not ashamed to admit I screamed a couple of times when I nearly fell out when we went down a very sharp dip that I hadn't seen coming.

Staggering out of the cart once we came to a stop. I was a little unsteady on my feet after that experience. It might take me a couple goes to get used to the ride. Ironclaw just smirked as he watched me stagger my way to the door as he waited for me.

"What a ride," I said as I steadied myself on the wall beside the vault door.

Ironclaw gave me a grin, "Indeed. Many young wizards say so their first time. Now to business. Please place your right hand on the vault door heir Black. The magic upon it will recognise you as the heir Black and will permit you entry."

I nodded as I straightened up and after a moment to prepare myself, I placed my right hand on the door as Ironclaw had told me. I could feel the faint hum below my fingertips, it was nothing like the feeling I had when I put on the heir ring it was much less potent. It faded away seconds later and I heard the loud clicks of the inner door workings moments later as the door began to open and I couldn't keep the shock off my face when I looked inside. To say the inside of the vault was huge does not do it justice.

The inner ceiling was at least two floors high and it went in at least a hundred meters from the entrance corridor. Towards the back, I could see shelves filled with tombs and books and to the side were various other shelves with doesn't of items on each.

Trunks stacked up in multiple stacks made of various fabrics filled one section of the wall. In the centre of the room was a huge mound of gold galleons that was at stretched back at least sixty meters and was nearly touching the ceiling, there was just so much.

Ironclaw bowed his head to me slightly, "I shall wait here for your return, call if you need me."

I nodded my head in response before I started forward down the small entrance corridor and into the main vault.

Walking in I let my eyes roam around I didn't know where to start when suddenly I jumped when a male voice spoke. "Who are you and what are you doing here!"

I jumped and swerved to find the source of the voice and my eyes widened as they settled on the source. Along the back wall of the vault were paintings a large number of them which I hadn't seen from the entrance hall, and the voice had come from the second to last one.

The painting was a man with long black hair and hard-features, and piercing grey eyes, dressed in rich looking black robes who was watching me with his hard gaze. My eyes flickered to the golden nameplate and my eyes widened,

"Orion Black," I said as I realized looking at the portrait of just who it was, Sirius and Regulus's father, my grandfather.

"I will not ask again boy, who are you? And what are you doing in here," Orion said his tone hard as he looked at me with his hard gaze.

I straightened slightly and my shoulders set as I turned fully to look at the portrait before I spoke. "My name is Magnus Roark Black, and am the newly named heir to the ancient and most noble house of Black."

Orion's eyes grew a fraction wider when he heard this as he seemed to take in my appearance more as he looked me over. "How is this possible?" he spoke his tone somewhat lighter, "The only way you could be heir Black at your age would be if you were born of the family," he said as he narrowed his eyes once more, "Who is your father boy?"

I didn't falter as he questioned me, nor as I replied. "I am the firstborn of your second born, Regulus Arcturus Black, the lost son of the house of Black, now found." I blinked, why had I just said that… it was like something was telling me it was the correct thing to say.

Orion's eyes definitely did widen when I said that and it looked as if someone had smacked him across the face. His eyes then darted down to my hand and the heir ring and he seemed to let out a breath before swallowing. "I see, I had thought that…. That the house was all but lost when I was told of my son's… your father's death. I am glad to see that the Black blood still flows strong." he said as he nodded his head to me, "You are most welcome here heir Black. I am sorry but your father never had his portrait made. So you will not be able to speak to him, but I and my wife Walburga, will assist you with anything you need." he said respectfully, "If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask us".

I nodded, "Thank you, grandfather, I will do that. But I fear that I may do so quite often, I was raised outside of the wizarding world. Until recently I was in an orphanage and until not half an hour ago I did not know I had any family at all." I said before gesturing around me, "All of this is completely new to me."

Orion nodded to my words, "I see. Yes, you do have a lot to learn then. But at least you seem to possess a strong fortitude, which is good. You will need that if you want to be the next Lord Black. Knowledge can be learned, but it takes a certain fortitude and strength to be a Lord, I think you will do nicely. If you will wait a moment I will fetch your grandmother from her portrait at Black Manor, she will want to speak with you now that you have been found."

I suppressed a wince at that as I watched him walk out of his frame. From what I can remember in the books and movies about Walburga Black she wasn't exactly the most pleasant of people. I didn't know if I wanted to meet her, but it was unavoidable at this point.

As I waited I turned and looked around once more waiting and I blinked when I saw the other side of the vault. While one side had books and what looked like a number of heirlooms as such. The other had shelves that were filled with what looked like various potion ingredients, a large number of them, and from just a quick glance the collection was very extensive.

But my attention was quickly drawn back to the portraits when I hear movement and I turned only to meet the gaze of Walburga Black. She was an older woman, in her mid-forties at least, with wild black hair and pale skin but was rather beautiful. Her gaze that of a woman that demanded respect and would raise hell if not given it.

I immediately felt my back straighten and set my shoulders as though I had just been challenged to a fight. I could tell that her gaze was a test to see my reaction, a test I was not going to fail.

After a moment her gaze seemed to soften if slightly as she sat back in her portrait in the chair in it and she nodded to me, "I see what you mean dear, he does at least have a spine." she said as I heard Orion chuckle from his Portrait.

"He does indeed." Orion agreed, "He will make a fine lord when he comes of age, once he has learned of his duties."

Walburga snorted, "That remains to be seen. Just because he wears the ring does not mean he will survive to become Lord Black." she stated rather amusingly.

I shot her a look at that comment, "And just what is that supposed to mean? You think just because I am a child that I will let another take what is mine. I am not something for your amusement!"

Walburga's eyes widened at my words and Orion burst into laughter, "Ha-ha, well said. You see dear he will make a fine lord." he said with a smile, "Neither of our sons had the nerve to downright defy you at that age, portrait or not. The lad has spirit."

Walburga snorted again, "Spirit means nothing when his age, it only means he's brash and foolhardy. He's already admitted he knows little of our world how does he expect to last when he doesn't know what to expect?"

I clenched my fists and took a breath, as expected she was proving to be just as stubborn a woman as she was in the books and movies, "By using what I do know. Learning as much as I can as fast as I can, and playing it safe until I know who I can trust. As grandfather said not five minutes ago to me: Knowledge can be learned, but it takes the right person to be a lord. If the Black Lordship is my right I will excel and claim it."

Walburga seemed to look at me a little differently at that and Orion nodded and gave me a pleased-looking smile before glancing at Walburga's painting once more, "What say you now dear? Does he meet your standards?"

Walburga continued to look at me for another several seconds after that but nodded, "He does," before bowing her head to me. "I am at your service heir Black. It has been many years since the house of Black had an heir worthy such as you. Should you have any need of me you have but to ask."

I nodded my head doing my best not to exhale a sigh of relief, "Thank you, grandmother, grandfather, but please, call me Magnus. We're family after all." I said with a small smile.

Both seemed to smile at that and nodded to me in acceptance and I nodded back. I then gesturing to the rest of the vault, "Is there anything in here that you can think of that would help me in my studies, or would be of an advantage for me to have at Hogwarts?" I asked plainly.

Orion nodded, "There are many books and tombs on the far shelves that may prove interesting, although some may be too advanced until you are older, but there may prove to be something there you can learn from. I know that Hogwarts library doesn't stock many of these tombs as some could be considered… questionable in nature. But their contents are none the less useful." he explained

"As for aiding you in your studies, I would suggest you browse the heirlooms. Those trunks are all multi-compartmental trunks, each with the space of a medium size house inside with various other features. Such would be advantageous to have at Hogwarts to have a private place to study away from prying eyes." Orion continued

I nodded hearing that, those did sound very useful, "Thank you grandfather, is there anything else?"

Orion thought for a minute and nodded, "Yes now that you mention it. In the heirlooms you might find an old pocket watch, gold casing and chain with a black sapphire on its casing. Similar to your heir ring, it was enchanted many years ago and its effects may prove useful."

I looked at him waiting for him to continue but he didn't so I only nodded, "I will keep an eye out, thank you once again grandfather." I said before turning and starting towards the stacked trunks.

Reaching the wall of trunks I was about to start taking one down one at a time and give each a once over till I found the one that had the best insides when I stopped to look again. Each had a folded up piece of parchment on the lid with a drawn map and a list of rooms inside, along with a list the additional charms and features each had, this would prove to be quicker than I thought.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Twenty minutes later I had gone through each of the trunks and chosen the best one I could find. It was large with a thick dragon skin finish and came with a number of features. It was both fire and water proof, had a deterrent charm so people would stay clear of it, a weightless charm so that it would be easy to carry, a security charm linked to my own magic which was linked to a penalty charm that would stun anyone who tried to open it who wasn't me, a concealment charm that kept the interior and its contents invisible to anyone when active so I wasn't worried about someone seeing what was inside it when I wasn't around. It also had a self-shrinking charm on it so I could shrink it to the size of a match box and put it in my pocket.

The reason I chose it was because not only did it offer the most space but it also had a number of rooms I knew I would find useful. A potions lab with a large ingredients store, a huge training room with a build in duelling ring, a combined large library and office space, on top of living quarters with a kitchen and pantry, and a master bedroom with bathroom and large closet space. It was practically a house on wheels.

With my trunk shrank and in my pocket I had started to browse through the heirlooms, keeping my hands to myself as I did so. I didn't want to risk touching anything knowing how nefarious and dangerous some of the items might be, and last thing I wanted was to be cursed by touching the wrong thing.

I was looking for the pocket watch that Orion had told me about and it was proving difficult to find. Only when I came into the jewellery area did I finally come across it, it was in a display case along with a number of other pieces, broaches and necklaces, and other pieces that looked expensive. I noticed they were all tagged with different labels and before I picked up the watch I took a quick glance at its label and my eyes widened, _"Time dilation pocket watch"_.

My mind started to race thinking just what that meant. Was this something similar to a time turner? I wasn't sure I wanted to mess with that kind of thing. But all the same, it would be a waste to pass up something that could aid me. Hermione had used such magic to advance her education in her third year, or she would, surely this could do the same for me.

With a nod, I lifted the pocket watch and placed it in my pocket, but before I closed the lid I stopped to browse some of the other tags to see what the other pieces were capable of. Getting to a pendant necklace I read over the tag and my eyebrows shot up, _"Legilimency barrier pendant"_.

Once again my mind had started to race with all the possibilities I had read in the past. How could I have forgotten about one of the most invasive magics in the wizarding world? If someone was to read my mind with legitimacy, they would know everything I would know in seconds, and I would be helpless to stop them. I would have to learn to defend myself from such things, but for now this ring would be the best place to start to at least give me advanced warning about such an attack.

Taking up the pendant I looked it over, it was a black sapphire same as that of my ring, but only this one was cut into the shape of a shield with a number of small ruins etched into it. It looked very impressive as it hung from the silver chain. I quickly put it on myself and took a final glance over the other things there stopping finally on a ring that was a plain silver with three diamonds in it and reading the tag I paused for thought as I read it, _"Detection ring, potions, curses, charms- Self-sizing"_.

Nodding to myself once more I lifted the ring out and slipped it onto my middle finger next to my heir ring. I can't count the number of times that I've read fanfictions where people were slipped love potions or food with some magical alteration effect. I knew it was better to be safe than sorry as I watched the ring sized itself to my finger. I would have to ask my grandparents portraits how these work later.

After I finished looking through the enchanted jewellery I move on to the book shelves to see if I could find anything that would peek my interest. I knew of a couple of topics that I wanted to learn already and I had several books stacked out on various subjects that caught my eye ranging from rituals, warding, ruins, battle transmutation, curses, Occlumency and potions, as well as three books that I could find on Metamorphmagus. While I could have browsed the topics here forever I was quite wary to touch the older looking books. When I held my hand over some of them I could feel a buzz in the air and the far right diamond on my detection ring turned black. I didn't know what that meant but I didn't want to risk looking anymore in case I touched something that I shouldn't, until I knew more.

There hadn't been any books on heirships or lordships or anything like that. I could only assume such books were at Black manor. I would just have to buy my own copies when I went shopping later.

With the books taken care of I made my way to the potions area to look at the ingredients just out of curiosity. I didn't plan on taking any, not this time as I didn't know if there was anything that the ministry would label dark here. The last thing I wanted to do was to was take something like that with me and have it found on me, that would only get me in trouble, so I would just wait till I knew more about that field before taking any of them out.

With a final glance around I started back to my grandparents portraits having put my books into my trunk the only things left that I needed were the galleons, but I didn't know how much to take so I thought I had better ask. While I could just shovel a pile of them into my pocket and hope for the best I just knew there had to be another way about it, like I had read in the fan fictions. Coming back to my vault every time I needed gold was just too tedious, there had to be another way.

"Finished grandfather. All I need now are the funds for my other school supplies. How much should I take?" I asked Orion's portrait.

The man smirked and pointed to a number of small sacks handing from hooks on one of the pillars next to the Galleons, "You don't need to take galleons from the vault. Those sacks are linked to the vault, simply take one with you, think about how many galleons you want and the bag will fill for you. It's bottomless and charmed to be weightless so you can use it for all number of charges, and they are like the vault doors only your magic can use it to pull funds from the vault."

I nodded, just as I thought. "Thank you grandfather." before walking over and lifting one of the sacks.

Orion nodded to me, "If you spotted anything in here that you can't take with you, simply call the manors house elf. His name is Kreacher. Now that you are heir Black he will answer your call, you can have him bring you anything from the vault that is too big for you to carry out."

I nodded my head to his suggestion in part recognition and thanks. I had thought about Kreacher as I had been looking through the heirlooms. I had spotted a couple of things that might be useful to me later but I had decided against calling Kreacher. Given that I knew if I did I would be questioned as to how I had known about him and that would have me answering some questions that I didn't want to answer. I had to be careful.

Walburga nodded as well, "I'm sorry to say that Black manor has fallen into a bit of a mess since my death. I have attempted to keep Kreacher cleaning but I cannot see beyond what my portrait will permit me so the manor needs a thorough going through. I will instruct Kreacher to begin such while you are collecting your school things. If need be you can call him to take your things back to the manor. I shall have him prepare a room for you before he begins cleaning."

I nodded again, "Thank you grandmother, but I do not know where Black manor is how…" As I began to say it my mind flooded with information and I felt something click inside my head and I realised what it had been, I had known where Black manor was before, but arriving here had locked the information away from me because of the secret keeper charm placed on the manor, but now I could remember, I staggered slightly, "…Whoa…. What…. How do I know this?"

Orion gave me a smirk, "It is the heir ring. It and the lord's rings are keyed to a special magic that hides Black manor from the rest of the world. It permits you and the Lord Black to tell others where the manor is but because of the charm no one can tell others. Nor will anyone simply happen upon the manor, looking for it or not. It was your interest in Black manor that let the ring fill in the blanks as it were. Have you not noticed it subtly telling you the correct things to say as well when addressed? It is meant to do so as an aid for younger or uninformed heirs like yourself."

I nodded and looked at the heir ring on my hand and gave a small smirk. I should have guessed there was more to this ring than just that bit of magic from before.

Orion seemed to look at me with interest and smirked, "I see you happened upon the detection ring, a handy piece of jewellery to have."

I looked to him with a bit of a smile, "Yes I found it when I was looking for the pocket watch you told me about. But there were no instructions on how it works, nor on what the watch does. Though I take it from its name that it does something with time?"

Orion nodded, "Yes the pocket watch creates a sort of time dilation bubble in a three feet radius in every direction. Inside time moves three times faster than outside it but it will only last for an hour a day, before it needs to recover its magic from the user while it is kept in their position. With it one hour becomes three which proves quite handy for studying and doing parchment work when you are a lord, or homework as a student." he smirked.

I slowly nodded my head. While it was by no means a time turner, I couldn't deny that such an item would come in very handy. It would give me more time to study what I want to in private, and it would allow me to get any homework done in record time when I'm at Hogwarts. Very handy indeed.

Orion cleared his throat and continued. "As for the ring. Well the three gems are the indicators to watch. It's useful for checking food, mail or any gifts given to you. Simply wave it over an item and watch the gems. Black means there is a curse or hex on the object, blue means some sort of harmful or invasive charms are at work, or purple means there is a potion involved, if purple turns to pink it means there's a love potion, if purple turns to yellow it means there's a mind altering element, or if black it means poison of some sort"

I looked at the ring and gave a low whistle. This was going to come in very handy in making sure that everything I ate or touch was safe to do so. I knew I was likely sounding a bit like Mad Eye Moody when I thought it but given the route I was thinking about it would be better to have this and not need it than get caught out and eat something that would mess with my mind or kill me.

I looked at my grandparent's portraits and smiled, "Well it's time for me to go now. I still have my shopping to do, after all, lots to do."

Walburga nodded, "Once you are done Magnus, call for Kreacher. He can take you to outside Black manor, you will have to unlock the front with your ring. It will tell you how."

I nodded my head once more and started out of the Vault turning to Ironclaw as the doors shut behind me, "I believe that concludes my business today with Gringotts unless you have other business to discuss with me?"

Ironclaw shook his head, "No that is all heir Black. If there is anything that comes to my attention I will owl you to inform you of it."

Once more I nodded my head, "Thank you for your assistance today Ironclaw. You have been of aid to house Black and it will not be forgotten. Now if you will kindly see me out of these caverns I believe that I have my school shopping to do."

Ironclaw nodded in response and we both started back to the cart to leave the vaults. I absentmindedly rubbed my heir ring and smiled. Things were going to be interesting with all that's at my disposal. While I still had to stop and make plans it was good to know I had a lot to work with. But what to do with it all is the question, so many possibilities and so much fun to be had. I was really looking forward to Hogwarts now, things were getting better by the moment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Well I literally just finished this and given the number of reviews I've been getting asking me to continue, I've decided to post right away, I've run it through Grammarly so there shouldn't be that many grammar mistakes in this one, hopefully, and by the time you're reading this I'll have gone back and updated chapter one with an edited version so the mistakes people spotted, fixed, sorry about them.**

 **Anyway, thanks for the reviews so far, keep them coming and I'll be getting to work on chapter three in about twelve or thirteen hours time, it's in the early hours of the AM for me so I need my sleep, before I can begin the next chapter, so make sure to drop a review cause I love reading them, though please try to include something other than mentioning any grammar mistakes.**

 **I am looking for a Beta reader preferably one who is quick and has plenty of free time on their hands and can do a good job if you are interested PM me in nine hours time, I won't be on before that and I don't need my PMs full of Beta reader applications, thanks.**

* * *

 **Chapter two- Shopping, Wands and Black Manor**

Soon after leaving Gringotts I realized one very important thing, I hadn't had any breakfast yet and I was starving, and so that was how I ended up in Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, now while the adult in me tells me that ice cream for breakfast is a bad idea and unhealthy the kid in me doesn't care and things that ice cream for breakfast sounds delicious, and so I was now sitting at a booth in the back of the Parlour on my own with a large ice-cream float in front of me and was currently tucking into it while I was reading over the occlumency book that I had gotten from my family's vault, and from what I read of it so far occlumency seems like a very beneficial magic to learn, allowing for much more than just protecting your mind, but aids you in controlling your emotions and even drastically improving one's memory and ability to sort and recall information quickly, this would come in handy if I was going to remember every little fact in order to plan out things later on.

It would also aid in my studying in class to better recall what I was taught, I don't see why this isn't a taught class at Hogwarts, many students would benefit from this and drastically increase exam outcomes if students could easily recall everything they were ever taught. There's only one reason that I can think of as for why it isn't taught at Hogwarts, and if I was right then it just meant I would have to be a hell of a lot more careful, the information inside my head about future events would basically be a cheat sheet for either side, and right now I'm not sure the light is so light.

* * *

 **Scene break**

With my stomach settled with a good helping of ice cream I decided it was time to start my shopping, I knew I was going to be getting more than just what was on the list of necessary items, I was a Black with plenty of money to use to get myself set up with everything, plus the fact that I virtually had nothing with me on coming hear meant that I had everything to buy for myself over again, it was going to be a very long day of shopping.

So with the fact that I had only two sets of clothing to my name in mind I started off to my first destination of the day, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, I knew it was unlikely they would sell muggle clothing there but I at least could get my Hogwarts robes ordered, and I wanted to make sure that I got all the flashing lights if you get my meaning.

Walking in through the doors I looked around, there were some very fancy dress robes on display, and the shop seemed rather busy, but then it would be with all the Hogwarts students and their parents.

A woman who I assumed was Madam Malkin herself looked up from behind the front desk where she was currently writing down orders, she was an older woman with short curly silver hair and wire-rimmed glasses wearing a violet robe with an intricate flower design woven into it, she looked to be rather stout and a little on the plump side of things but pleasantly so.

"Another one for Hogwarts robes dearie?" she asked me from behind the desk, I nodded in response and she pointed to a set of chairs currently all vacant, "Take a seat and I'll be with you in a minute," she said and then went back to writing.

I nodded and did as I was told to, sitting down on the chair to wait as I rubbed at the detection ring on my right middle finger, currently it was the only ring visible on my hand, my heir ring was currently hidden from sight so as not to show off who I was, a hand trick Ironclaw had shown me bfore I left Gringotts, the last thing I needed right now before I could sit down and think about things for a while was for someone to realise I was from the house of Black, who's sons are notorious, Sirius for his apparent betrayal of the Potters and my father for being a death eater, no one else bar me and those involved knew the truth, and while part of me wanted to go right to the DMLE and get Sirius released, I knew I couldn't do that, it would mess up the timeline and then I wouldn't know what was happening, not to mention I hadn't the first idea how to go about it, as I highly doubt that Madam Bones was just going to take the word of a child who wasn't even out of nappies when it happened. No I needed to plan, but for now, I would go with the flow until I had time to sit down and make one, I had a whole month before Hogwarts to do it in, plenty of time.

Once she was finished writing down whatever it was in her ledger behind the front desk making her way over to me with a pleasant smile, the kind you give to children not to frighten them, I guess I would have to get used to that for a while.

"Well dearie, come along let's pop on into the changing room so I can take your measurements for your robes," she said as she gestured to behind a large curtain to the right of the chairs.

I nodded as I stood up, "Yes Ma'am, but I'm actually here for more than just my school robes today, I need to have a full wardrobe made up, I've only recently joined the magical world but my parents left me an inheritance so I am able to look after myself"

I saw Madam Malkin frown slightly at that, "I'm sorry to hear that dearie, but don't worry I'm sure we can get you sorted out," she said before pointing to the stool, "now just stand up there and I'll have your measurements taking and then we can discuss what all you need, we'll focus on your Hogwarts robes first and get them out of the way" she smiled.

Nodding once more I moved to the stool and stepped up onto it keeping my balance as I did, which I found was actually a little harder than it normally was for me, which I think now is just more than me not being used to this body, and more to do with my being a Metamorphmagus, Tonks was always clumsy wasn't she, I'll have to try and think of some way to fix that, it could get me killed if I'm in a fight and I trip up when it's most important.

No sooner was I stood straight on the stool Madam Malkin tapped the long measuring tape that was over her shoulders and it zipped right off her and started to encircle me, "Hold your arms out dearie," she instructed, I did so and the measuring tape went to work measuring my limbs and torso.

Right about now I had wished that I had taken some time to learn how to use my metamorphic abilities, changing my measurements mid-measure would really throw her off.

"Um Ma'am it might be important for you to know, I'm a partial Metamorphmagus, I haven't learned to control it yet though so, that might be relevant to my clothing," I told her as I continued to watch the tape take my measurements.

Madam Malkin looked at me and blinked, "Oh I see, well that is very fortunate for you dearie, and I can easily factor that in with your clothing, some resizing charms can be put onto your clothing so that it will grow right along with your body when you do change" she told me as she watched her quill write down my measurements.

That had been the opening I wanted, "Um, what other charms can be put onto my clothing, and do I have any choices about my Uniform, materials and the like?"

Madam Malkin smiled, "Yes dearie we provide a selection of fabrics for you to choose from to have your uniform made from, as well as a selection of useful charms that can be applied, the better the fabric and the more charms the more expensive it will be though, how much can you afford to spend on your uniform and other clothes"

I smiled, "Money isn't a problem, my inheritance was rather large, my parents wanted me well looked after," I could practically see the twinkle in her eyes when I said that and I went for broke, "Do you sell just robes here or do you sell muggle clothing as well, I would like to be able to go out into the muggle world as well so I'll need muggle clothing as well, again money is not a problem"

Madam Malkin looked like she wanted to burst out into joyous laughter at my words and I can tell that I had just made her one very happy with.

* * *

 **Scene break**

About two hours later I was finally coming out of Madam Malkin's my order placed for a full wardrobe or robes for all my needs from formal to casual wear, and my Hogwarts robes, I was told I would need to give her at least a day to have them all made up, I had ordered the very best, I could practically see the galleon signs in her eyes when she rounded off the total and I paid for it all before leaving.

I had already put all my muggle clothing into my shrunken trunk, they all had various charms on them as well, though not as many as my robes, apparently muggle clothing can't hold as many enchantments as wizarding robes, something to do with the materials, I didn't mind.

Looking around the alley I knew where I was going next, I wanted to leave getting my wand to last so I was steering clear of Ollivander's for now, as I walked on towards Flourish and Blotts, I knew that Black manor likely had a library, but like the one in the Black vault every other book was likely cursed, so it would be like trying to navigate a magical mind field to not get cursed, ring or not, I didn't want to risk that… at least not yet.

Walking into Flourish and Blotts I was relieved to see that the crowd that had been there before had lessened while I was in getting my clothes seen too, they had a number of tables set up with stacks of books on them in bundles, each table with a sign on it for each year group, I realised looking that they had created packages of the books each student would need for their core subjects in their years so as to speed things along, a handy idea, but I knew that I was here for more than just the standard books and went in search of others browsing the shelves checking the above labels to find the books on the subject I was looking for, and I quickly found them and started to take a copy of each, copies of each wizard law book, pureblood politics, and any guide for muggle born students just entering the wizarding world, I wanted to learn all the facts so I wouldn't be caught out on things, while I was tempted to try for some more advanced text books on other subjects, I knew I would have more than my fair share of topics to study over the month and so adding more to my list would be pointless until I got all my facts straight and my occlumency training underway so I could remember it all.

Taking all my books plus the first year package up to the till to pay, I could see the girl behind the till raise an eyebrow at my choice of books, but didn't say anything after I put the galleons on the front desk to pay for it all, she offered to shrink them for me but I declined and just loaded them into my trunk before leaving for my next destination already having enough to preoccupy my mind for now.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Walking to the next shop on my list to get my cauldron and my potion ingredients, I paused as I walked past Eeylops Owl Emporium, there in the window was sitting the cage containing the beautiful white snow owl soon to be known as Hedwig, I couldn't help but smile seeing her, and I was very tempted to go in there and buy her myself, but she was Harry's owl, and changing the time line even in a small way like that had me on edge, I didn't want to risk throwing anything off balance in a major way not for a while yet, and while I had thought about getting an owl I didn't exactly have anyone to write too, and I could always change my mind later in the month and pick one up if need be, plenty of time after all, but I had to remain focused at the moment and resumed my paced as I continued on to my next destination.

* * *

 **Time skip**

Three hours later found me at the door to Ollivander's to get my wand, finally, I had splurged in every shop I had been to, buying more than what was on my list to get, I always did like to be over prepared for everything and you never know what might happen.

So with a final step I pushed open the door and walked inside, it was just as the movies showed, it walls upon walls of wand boxes of all shapes and sizes, way too many to count by hand, I was looking around in slight awe as I entered, I well knew that Ollivander liked to sneak up and weird children out who come to his shop to get their wands, so I was prepared for him to jump out from behind a corner in an attempt to scare me… I was not however prepared for the old wand maker's voice to sound from behind me, I practically jumped three feet in the air and swerved to find the man behind me chuckling in amusement. It took me several seconds to get my breathing under control and to stop my heart from thinking it was a good idea to exit my body by means of busting through my rib cage.

"Ah Mister Black, I was wondering when I would be seeing you," Ollivander spoke clearly as he smiled at me, "Sorry for the scare, I just wanted to say hello" he smiled wider.

Getting my breath under control I was about to speak when my voice caught in my throat when I realised what he had just called me and I swallowed, "Um, no problem," I spoke as I tried to figure out how he knew my name, "um sir how did you know my last name, I haven't told anyone about that?" I asked a little put off by the fact the man knew a fact I was trying to keep secret.

Ollivander smiled at me, "that is simple my dear boy, I was the one who made your mother and fathers wands, you look the spitting image of them at your age" he said with a proud smile, "your fathers was a Hazel and Dragon heartstring, nice and flexible, good for shields and powerful enchantments. While your mothers was willow with Unicorn tail hair, very swishy, good for charm work and healing" he recited off the top of his head, "I wonder which you might take after, or perhaps you're your own man, shall we get started then?"

I swallowed and nodded my head as I ran those facts through my mind, and tried to think what this would mean, if Ollivander knew who else did, was my identity compromised before I even had a chance, would Dumbledore know before I even arrive at Hogwarts, there had been speculations that Ollivander reported to Dumbledore, but I hoped to hell that wasn't true now.

Ollivander simply continued to smile, "you have little to worry my boy your identity is safe with me, I shan't tell a soul what I know" he promised me, I just looked at him with wide eyes, how did he know that's what I was thinking, has he been using legilimency on me this whole time and I not know it… no, my pendant would have warned me if he was… he was reading my expressions… I couldn't help but want to facepalm myself, Magnus you idiot you are going to turn out just like Moody at this rate, thinking everyone's out to get you.

I gave him a deadpan look and sighed, "Nice trick, now as you said shall we get started then?"

Ollivander chuckled, "Oh seen through me already have you? My aren't you a clever one, very well then, hold out your arm hand my boy and let me get started" he said as he tapped the magical tape around his neck, just as Madam Malkin had and it shot off his shoulder as well and started to measure my arm, but as I suspected it would, it didn't stop there, it continued on measuring everything, the length of my fingers, my legs, my feet, even my ears, and what I now want to know is what the bloody hell the circumference of my nostril has to do with picking my wand?

All the while Ollivander wasn't even taking down the measurements and started off to brows the shelves of his stock while I was practically molested my his measuring tape, it was trying to measure my groin when I finally put a stop to it grabbing the tape measure and it falling limp in my hands before I put it down on Ollivander's front desk as I took deep breaths trying not to scream, it certainly wouldn't do for the Heir of the House of Black to throw a yelling fit in the shop of the oldest wand maker in Diagon alley…. Where the hell did those thoughts come from?

My eyes darted to the space on my hand where my heir ring was and I realised what it was, it was my heir ring advising me on what to do, it was subtle but it was there, a minor compulsion, it would be easy for me to ignore it now that it was there, and it would likely go away once I had learned how to raise my occlumency barriers to keep all outside influence out, but it was nothing bad, helpful in fact and I suppose it was right in a way.

While I was mulling over this latest discovery, Ollivander had returned to his desk and broke me from my thoughts as he set out a number of wand boxes lining them all up before picking one at what appeared to be a random selection and held it out to me. "Here we are, willow and phoenix feather, nice and swishy" he told me.

Taking a breath just in case something happened I took a breath to brace myself before I reached out and took the wand, and I felt a slight tremor in my hand but there was no large flash or light of any kind as I expected, as I went to hand it back to him shaking my head I felt a pull inside me and then a row of wand boxes fell over, my eyes widened before I winced, the sound made Ollivander jump with surprize and I heard him sigh when he saw the tipped over boxed before waving his hand and they restored themselves to their original place before he turned around and the wand back from me, "Alright then," he said as he put the wand back in the case before lifting another two of the boxes he brought with him, "Phoenix feather late responsive" he mumbled to himself as he placed the boxes below the table and handed me another.

And so on it went, for the next hour and a half, wand came and wand went, I tipped over shelves, cracked his desk, knocked myself on my butt more than once and even blew out the shops window with a loose spell, I was getting rather irritated with the fact we couldn't find one, but come on, Harry got his on the third try.

And the more wands that didn't work the more excited Ollivander seemed to get with each failed attempt until finally, he came back with a long black box with a white ribbon falling off its front and top.

He carefully lifted the top of the boxed off and set it to the side as he took out the wand inside, it was white like ivory white with a circular body that tapered slightly and then dipped un for a small bit like a sword and handle without a hilt before coming back up, down its length were carved small ruins that looked very intimidating.

The fact that Ollivander was treating the wand with such care had me weary, and as he held it out to me he spoke, "thirteen inches, Yew, with a dragon heartstring core, rigid" he spoke softly.

As he held it there I could actually feel it, and I knew why, this was is, reaching out I grasped the want and my eyes widened as I felt something fill me as a tingle ran down my arm and I gasped feeling as though I had just had the best sleep of my life, it felt amazing.

Ollivander seemed to smile, "Very good choice mister black, it is rare that I make wands of Yew and even more rarely do I sell them, that you should choose this wand says a great deal about you, I think it's fair to say that we can expect great things from you mister Black, wither they are good or bad is yet to be seen." He said and then seemed to relax, "alright then, that will be twelve galleons"

I nodded as I looked at my wand, "Could I get a wand wrist holster as well please, Dragons hide with anti-summoning charms and disillusionment charms" I asked as I remembered them in some fanfictions I read.

Ollivander nodded as he took one out from below the desk and placed it next to my wand box, "that will be twenty galleons and seven sickles mister Black" he smiled.

* * *

 **Scene break**

I exited the shop with my new wand placed inside its holster on my left wrist, I would have to add drawing practice to my list of things to learn later now when I start learning and training, I have five years to get myself ready, the war is coming and I am going to be ready for it.

Making my way back to the leaky cauldron I went up to my room and made sure the last of my things were packed away in my trunk, I could just throw the old clothes away but I needed a safe place to call Kreacher anyway.

When I knew I was set I turned to the empty room and called out, "Kreacher" the next second the old house elf was there with a pop.

"Who be you to call Kreacher?" Kreacher wrenched as he looked at me with his small beady eyes, "There be Black blood in you but I know not who you are."

I kept my expression cool I remembered that this is what Kreacher was like in the movies, so I was more than expecting such. Holding up my hand and willing my Heir ring to appear I responded, "I am Magnus Roark Black, Son of Regulus Arcturus Black, heir to the ancient and most noble house of Black, that is who I am." I spoke with complete authority in my tone, it wouldn't do to let the old elf see any doubt in me.

As I spoke I watched as Kreacher's beady eyes seemed to widen, "You be Master Regulus's son?" He spoke his voice a little shaken by my declaration.

I nodded, "I am, I did not know my father nor my mother. I was orphaned and only found my way back to the house of my birth this day. Did my grandparent's portraits not tell you?"

Kreacher nodded, "Kreacher was told of the return of the Heir to the house of Black, but Kreacher knew not that it was you," he said before he quickly knelt before me.

"Kreacher will gladly serve young master Black, what does young master wish of Kreacher," The old elf spoke submissively.

I smiled slightly, very pleased with how things were going, "I am ready to go to Black Manor now, please take me there," I spoke and watched a shiver run through the elf on my words… oh right, he was used to people making demands of him, probably has never been asked nicely to do something in his life.

After a moment Kreacher seemed to snap out of the shock he had fallen into and held out his hand to me, "At once young master, please take Kreacher's hand and I shall do as commanded"

I nodded and reached out taking the elves hand before feeling a tug and my eyes widened when the whole room started to spin as I felt like I was lifted off my feet and sent spinning on my head for several moments before suddenly my feet touched the ground again and I felt like my stomach was doing backflips, I stumbled back letting go of Kreacher's hand before falling flat on my arse as I tried desperately not to puke.

It took another moment or two for my stomach to settle before I started to look around me, we were on a pavement across the way from a block of houses, I recognised where we were immediately and slowly stood to my feet as I took a final calming breath, I will not be doing that anytime soon for a while if I can help it.

I looked to Kreacher, "Where is the Manor?" I asked

No sooner had I that than I heard the creaking and groaning as I watched on as the space between numbers eleven and thirteen started shaking and moving, as everything seemed to reveal itself, as Black Manor, also known as 12 Grimmauld Place, showed itself.

I looked over the exterior of the manor and swallowed slightly, it was very imposing, and it also looked very filthy, the external walls with layers of dirt on them, though it didn't look as bad as I remembered it from the movies, but then that would have been after another five years of disuse to allow more to build up, it gave me slightly more hope for the inside of the manor.

Both Kreacher and I crossed the street and went up the steps to the large black door of the manor, I was about to reach for the handle when I stopped, something telling me that it was a bad idea to do so, and then I felt knowledge of just what to do enter my mind and I blinked, guess that was the Heir ring again.

Holding up my right hand I willed my Heir ring to appear before reaching out and placing its head against the door I could feel the two magics touching each other, the magic of the manor and the combined magic of myself and the ring, they seemed to clash for a moment but immediately settled down, that was when I spoke.

"I Magnus Roark Black, heir to the ancient and most noble house of Black, demand entry into my family's home" I spoke firmly as I kept the ring pressed firm against the door, no sooner had I finished than I felt a humming resonate from with my the heir ring and the whole door flashed before creaking open partly.

I sighed in relief as I took my hand back and willed my heir ring to disappear before entering the manor.

As I entered the hall I began to glance around, it definitely wasn't as bad as it was in the movies, five years from now, but it was still pretty bad though I could see where Kreacher had been trying to make repairs and clean, the floors were swept clean and it looked as though the hall at least had been dusted, though that helped about as much as putting a small plaster on a bullet wound.

Wallpaper was peeling away, the floorboards were rocking and creaking beneath my feet, and there was a musky scent in the air. In short the house was in need of some major repair work, I'd have to see to such eventually but for now, I had other things to focus on.

I turned my attention to Kreacher, "Where is the room I will be staying in?" I asked.

Kreacher with his head bowed gestured to the stairs, "this way young master, Kreacher will show you," he said and I nodded before following him up the stairs.

The room I was lead to had green carpet with dark and light blue striped wallpaper with a fireplace on the opposite side of the room from where I had entered with a large double bed in between the door and it, and above the fireplace hung a plaque with the Slytherin emblem on it, I recognised the room from the Wiki, it was Regulus old room.

The wallpaper was peeling in some places and the bed didn't look overly comfortable, and I could tell with how several bits of furniture in the room were misplaced that the room had once had an expansion charm applied to it to make it much larger, but by the looks of things that had faded some time ago reverting the room to its original size.

Taking my trunk out of my pocket I set it down and with a double tap to its top I stepped back watching as my trunk grew to its full size, opening its lid I descended down into its depths via the ladder that was on the inside front wall of the trunk.

After climbing down the ten feet my feet touched the bottom and I was standing in a two meter wide corridor that had multiple doors, and at the far end was a large open space that was a like a living and dining area with a large fireplace with a number of chairs and sofas sitting in an arch astound the fire, the kitchen was to the side of it with another door leading to a currently empty pantry.

I made my way down the hall and came to a stop at the door just before the living area and walked in, the room inside was large two floors high at least and three of the walls were nothing but bookshelves, all of them currently, empty except for one at the far side behind a large oak desk and chair. On the wall opposite that was a large fireplace with two armchairs sitting at angles partly facing each other and the fireplace in a triangle set up.

Closing the door behind me I started over to the desk and the shelves behind it, I knew exactly what book I was looking for that had the most chance of containing the information I was looking for, though I had yet to even start reading it.

I remembered from past fictions I had read about Albus using paintings to spy on students in Hogwarts, same with the house elves and ghosts, they were his eyes and ears around the castle, I also knew what was in his office, portraits of all the past head masters, but I was currently only worried about one of them, and while I knew these facts myself I needed to be able to back them up to anyone who asked about them, I couldn't just claim to know something and not remember where I had found the information, that would get people asking all the wrong questions.

Reaching the shelves I quickly found the book I was looking for, Hogwarts: A History, and took it to my desk and started to scan through it for the proof I needed, I was able to find a list of previous headmasters quite quickly, though it took me a bit longer than that to find mention of the headmaster portraits, but find it I did.

While I had no proof that what I suspected going on was actually going on, I couldn't take the risk and rose from my chair and started out of my office library and headed for the ladder out Hogwarts: A History under one arm.

Starting out of my bedroom after leaving my trunk I looked around, "Kreacher" I spoke in a soft tone, not wanting to shout in case I was overheard by the portrait in question that I am worried about.

The old elf appeared in front of me with another small pop and looked down at him, "Kreacher, is there a portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black anywhere in the manor?" I asked him

Kreacher nodded to me, "Yes young master there is, on the third floor just outside the Library"

I frowned hearing that, it was rather cleaver to have the portrait placed there, the library was no doubt filled with dark texts and the portrait could easily report back to Dumbledore about anyone who entered, it also meant as long as it was there, I couldn't even risk going to the library if I was spotted by that portrait there was a very high chance that Phineas would jump to his other portrait at Hogwarts and tell the old man about someone being in Black manor, and I had no way of knowing if Dumbledore was already privy to the knowledge of where the manor was, and I did not want Dumbledore to pay me a visit this early on.

Snapping out of my thoughts I nodded to Kreacher, "I have a task for you Kreacher, one that you have to be very careful about, I need you to remove the painting of Phineas Nigellus Black from where it is currently, cover it and place silencing charms on it, before taking it to the Black vault in Gringotts, if Phineas currently resided in that painting, you are to hit it with a stunning charm to knock him out before proceeding, do not let him see you or escape his portrait if he is here"

Kreacher nodded his head to me and then disappeared with a pop to go and carry out his given task as I sighed a breath of relief, that would be one problem sorted, I did not need Dumbledore having eyes and ears here, not until I got my measure of the man in person when I went to Hogwarts in a months' time.

* * *

 **Scene break**

I gave it five minutes before I started toward the stairs once more and ascended to the third floor, wanting to make sure that Kreacher had removed the painting before I risked anything, I couldn't avoid to take any chances.

But as I rounded the corner from the stairs onto the third floor I sighed a breath of relief, there were three corridors to go down here one to the left, the other to the right and the third was straight forward and the shortest of the three, it was rather obvious to me that the right and left-hand corridors had expansion charms on them as they were by far longer than the total width of the house, and there was a clear spot down the left-hand corridor next to a set of double doors that was a lot lighter than the rest of the wallpaper where it was fairly obvious that a painting had hung till recently.

No sooner though had I had my moment of relief than the sound of my Grandmother's voice filled my ears.

"Magnus? Care to explain why Kreacher has just removed the portrait of one of your ancestors?" She asked.

My eyes turned to the sound of the voice, the portrait hung just a few meters away from where the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black had once hung between the two doorways and was watching me with calculating eyes, I had no doubt that she was wary of me, but I also knew that I had little to fear from her as she was only a portrait and all she could do was screech at me, but given how I was playing things carefully I knew I needed to placate her.

"Oh course grandmother, I was just airing on the side of caution," I said as I gestured to the book in my hand, "It's my understanding that Phineas Nigellus Black was once a headmaster at Hogwarts and like you and grandfather he has two paintings one here in the manor and another at Hogwarts" I explained.

Walburga's eyes narrowed, "What are you suggesting?" she asked me, I could practically see the wheels in her head turning as the listened to me.

"I am suggesting that Phineas might not be completely loyal to house Black, and I didn't want him to see me and then jump back to Hogwarts to inform Dumbledore about me," I said plainly.

Walburga kept her eyes on me and nodded, "I see it is likely a wise choice, his portrait has rarely came by to visit in the past number of years so I don't think he'll notice straight away, but what I want to know is why are you against Dumbledore knowing you are here?"

I smiled, "For the same reason I don't want others to know, they would all see to use me to better themselves, the second that it was discovered that I'm the Heir black and I'm underage, they are going to try to use me and restrict me, have someone placed as my guardian, that is the last thing I want, I don't need someone to tell me what I can and cannot do,"

Walburga watched me closely and nodded, "I can tell that you are not telling me something, but I will not push the matter, you are the black heir now and like it or not there is little I can do about it, but everything you have said up till now sounds just as though it should for a Black, we are never tools to be used, however, you may run into a problem when you begin Hogwarts once there your heritage, position and the fact you have no guardian will come out."

I took a breath and nodded, "there are things I am not telling you, I have suspicions that have no basis as of yet, and until they do I will keep them to myself, and you have my word that I will not do anything to endanger the House of Black" I said firmly, disliking the fact that I had to admit something like this but I had little choice in the matter given she already suspected me, "as for that fact I am already aware of such and I will be searching for a way to get out of such, I have some idea's but nothing that I am willing to state will work for sure."

Walburga nodded in acceptance, "I am unsure how you will go about it but should you need any advice your grandfather is quite versed in both the old and pureblood laws, I am sure he might be of aid to you, his portrait is in his office, the single door to your right, you will also have to engage the wards, Orion will walk you through how to do so."

I nodded, "thank you grandmother" I said before moving to the door and opening it stepping into the large office space, it had two tall windows, both with dark green curtains with a number of holes in them, and one wall was a book shelf with a large oak desk in front of it, with a coating of dust over it, there was a deep green carpet on the floor and the two other walls had a number of Portraits on them, all of them seemed to be frozen in sleep aside from that of my grandfather who was the middle portrait on the wall opposite the desk.

"Well you certainly took your time about coming here, I trust your shopping went well?" Orion asked me.

I nodded, "it did, I got everything I should need, and I can always go back to get some more, though I'm a little hesitant about letting Kreacher take me, his way of travel is a little sore on one's stomach"

Orion nodded, "yes Kreacher is getting on in his years and his magic isn't what it used to be, evidenced by how the manor has fallen into such disrepair"

I nodded my head in agreement, "yes I have seen as such when I came in, the manor is in much need of repair but I fear that Kreacher will not be able to do much on his own, perhaps if we could acquire another elf it might make things easier for him," I suggested.

Orion seemed to nod in response to my idea, "yes a second elf would be beneficial I think, but such are hard to come by most if not all are owned by the pureblood families, you would have to get in touch with one and request to purchase one, and even then I suspect the price would be very high as they are a hard to come by and those who breed them control the prices"

I frowned at that but nodded none the less, I had an idea about how I could go about getting another elf but at this stage, it might affect things more than I would like if I was to do so, I would have to think more about this before I did anything.

Coming out of my thoughts I cleared my throat, "Grandfather? Grandmother said something about my needing to raise the wards and that you could show me how to do so?"

Orion nodded, "Yes I was just about to mention that actually," he said before gesturing to the bookcase behind the desk, "third shelf, third book from the right, push it inwards and stand back"

I nodded and walked to behind the desk and did as instructed, the shelves were lined with a number of old books, each covered with a layer of dust having not been touched or moved in so long, I counted out the books and found the one grandfather had told me about and pushed it inwards, I heard a clicking sound and then the whole middle area of the bookcase shuddered and I stepped back.

The middle section of the bookshelves sunk back behind the sections on its right and left, until it was well behind them and then with a second click it slid to the right, revealing a hidden section of the room behind it, the area was only two meters deep but in it was an altar with a large stone on it with a number of runic symbols carved into its surface that seemed to pulse weakly, and next to it was a stone bowl with a silver knife in it with similar etchings.

Behind me my grandfather's portrait spoke, "That is the master ward stone that controls the wards and enchantments placed inside the manor, you might have noticed some of the rooms don't seem very grand or spacious, that is because their enchantments were suspended in order for the ward stone to save what was left of its limited magical supply," he explained, "once it is reactivated the enchantments will restore themselves and the wards will link themselves to you, while normally it would be the lord of the manor that would control the wards, in his and his lady's absence the Heir takes command of them"

I nodded in understanding, "and how do I reactivate the stone?" I asked, though looking at the knife and the bowl I think I already had an idea.

"Blood," my grandfather said, "your blood, you must fill the bowl with your blood and then pour it over the stone while chanting the incantation to simultaneously recharge the ward stone and connect it to you, your ring will have the information on the incantation"

I nodded and stepped into the small area picking up the bowl and placing it in front of the stone while I lifted the knife, I could see the edge of the silver glisten along its edge.

I took a breath as I put my left hand over the stone bowl and placed the edge of the blade to my palm knowing that if I had to fill up the bowl then a small cut on my finger wasn't going to do it this time. With another breath to brace myself before I pulled back on the blade and let out a hiss as the razor sharp edge of the blade cut into my skin and blood immediately began to pool in the palm of my hand.

I put the knife to the side as I tilted my hand and let the blood begin to pour into the stone bowl on the altar and watched it fill with my blood, no sooner had it reached near the rim did my bleeding stop and the cut on my palm heal up.

I gave a relieved sigh when I saw my cut close up, part of me had been worried that it wouldn't; given the Black's dark nature but I shook that off. I needed to remember there was a difference between dark and evil, the fact that I was just being foolish came to mind given that it was highly unlikely that a lord would use a knife on himself for such a purpose and not have it charmed to heal the wound after the fact.

I took up the bowl and held it over the ward stone and as I did so I felt the knowledge of what to do come to the front of my mind and began to chant as I began pouring the blood, "familia custodiis restituet" I said as the blood poured over the stone and seemed to seep into it as the ruins glowed brighter as I continued my chant, "sanguis sanguinem meum" the blood continued to pour and I finished my chant, "Coniungere ad novum dominum"

As I finished uttering the last phrase and the last of the blood dripped onto the stone the ruins pulsed and the stone let out a pulse, like a shockwave that washed over the entire manor, I felt my skin tingle and my eyes widened as I suddenly was aware of everything going on in the manor, everything everywhere inside it, from where each portrait was on the walls, to the infestation of Cornish pixies that had taken up residence in the downstairs fireplace, I knew everything about the manor.

My mind suddenly raced with possibilities of what this would mean and I instantly thought of the location of the Slytherin locket, the Horcrux that my father stole and that got him killed, and instantly I knew exactly where it was in the second-floor broom closet under rags hidden away.

I knew there was no point in even thinking about getting the locket now given that I would have no means to destroy it until my second year which I would be doing because wither Dumbledore is a manipulating bastard or not Voldemort is a psychotic psychopath with murderous tendencies, and out of the two of them is the more likely to curse me in the back or at least I'd like to hope so.

I was once more pulled out of my thoughts by the voice of my grandfather's portrait, "Excellent Magnus, that flash signals that the bonding is complete you should be able to feel everything that's going on in the manor now. Do you feel it?"

I turned and nodded, "I do grandfather, it feels quite strange in a way," I said, not lying one bit it was a little creepy like I was everywhere in the manor at once.

Orion nodded to me with an amused smile, "Yes it will be a little strange at first but you will get used to it, but for now let's just focus on bringing up the wards, I need to you picture the manor in your mind and think about it being encased in a bubble that will keep everything else out," he instructed.

I nodded and did so as I closed my eyes and pictured the manor and then the bubble as instructed and almost instantaneously I felt the inviable protection wards of the manor snap up and into place, Black manor was now one giant lock encased in concrete, no one was getting in here without a hell of a lot of magical power, and even then they'd be in for one hell of a fight getting through what I could feel the wards were capable of, there was nothing lethal of course but there were a large number of what were definitely dark curses now protecting the manor and anyone who tried to get in would wish they were dead a hundred times over.

As I opened my eyes I saw Orion smiling at me again, "Good job, you're a natural, with the wards up the manor is secure and no one can get in unless you lower them or permit them entry"

I nodded, "Thank you, grandfather," I said with a smile, "Now I was wondering if I could ask your advice, grandmother said that you are well versed in the old and pureblood laws and that you would be able to help me."

Orion seemed intrigued when I mentioned the laws and nodded, "I will to the best of my knowledge, I am here to help, what seems to be troubling you?"

I sighed a breath of relief, "When I go to Hogwarts in a months' time, people will know I am the Black heir, and the fact I am without guardians, magical or otherwise," I said knowing I could reference my source for the information on magical guardians to Hogwarts: a history after seeing it mention that while there that the headmaster becomes the magical guardian for all muggle born students until they graduate, "what I want to know is that is there anything in the laws Old or pureblood that would help keep me from being placed under a guardian, if I was I fear they may try to use me or House Black for their own gains."

My grandfather seemed pensive at this for a moment and nodded, "I see, your reasons seem to be well based and I can see your worries, and while there are a number of ways in the old laws to have someone removed from being your guardian, there is nothing in them to my knowledge that would aid you from being assigned one"

I sighed, "I figured, it's was worth a shot anyway, I guess I will just have to put some more thought into my other option then." I said as I shook my head a little annoyed that this was going to be my only other option.

My grandfather raised an eyebrow at my statement, "oh and just what is this other option?" he asked curiously.

I smiled, "it's still in the works, but I shall tell you more about it when I have a firmer grasp on what needs doing," I said seeing the approving nod from the portrait, "for now I need to focus on my studying and getting the manor restored, and perhaps purchasing another house elf to see to things"

My grandfather nodded once more, "I would recommend going to see Ironclaw again and asking for his assistance on both the matters on the restorations of the manor and the acquisitions of a new house elf, Gringotts take fees for their connections but they value privacy about all else," he advised, "and as for your study, the Black library is open to you to view, each book has protectively cursed on them to harm anyone who attempts to read them without the lords permission, as you are the heir no black curse will harm you, so do not worry about the gem on the detection ring turning black, it is just a protective curse"

I nodded, that was very good to know, I had spotted a number of books back in the vault that I had left because of the curses, I would have to add a stop to the vault to my list of things to do the next time I went to the vaults unless I found the same books in the library here, "I believe I will go and see the library now, I'm quite eager to begin my studying."

Orion seemed to smirk, "you sound too much like a Ravenclaw, knowledge is good but only when it is useful, remember that." He told me.

I nodded and turned to leave before smirking, "all knowledge is useful, one just has to know the right time to use it," I could hear the portrait of my grandfather let of an amused chuckle as I walked out.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Considering the library and the lords office are next door to each other it was a relatively short walk to the double doors, I had originally not planned to learn anything in here until I got through what books I already had in the library in my trunk and I still didn't but it could never hurt just to take a quick peek at just what I had to work with once I was finished with what I had.

Putting my hands on the double doors I tried to open them but they wouldn't budge and I scowled but before I could do anything further my grandmother's painting spoke up, "You will have to use your Heir ring to get in, before my death I used my magic to seal the library off, I didn't want to risk the Black library or our family grimoires falling into unworthy hands before they could be rightfully claimed." Walburga's portrait told me.

I nodded in understanding as I moved to place my heir ring to the doors, the mention of grimoires had caught my attention somewhat as I had never heard mention of such things in either the books nor the movies but I had in the fanfictions and I couldn't help but feel a little excited about seeing what was inside them.

with my heir ring once again in placed I spoke out as I felt the magic flow, around the door and my ring before fading as I demanded entry, when I was down I simply pushed forward and the doors opened and my eyes widened at what I saw.

The room was huge, no strike that huge doesn't even begin to describe how big this room is. It had to be at least three floors high.

I walked inside in a state of awe, it was incredible, there enough space for ten or twelve people to stand side by side at least and wave their arms about freely. There were old looking but comfortable sofas, chairs and small tables around the place with a large main table at the crossroads where the room broke off in a sort of cross or X like profile.

At each of the curves in the profile of the room, there was a ladder that I saw leading up to each of the walkways of which there were two evenly spaced.

As I neared the middle of the room I couldn't help but be amazed, I don't think that even Hogwarts has a library this extensive, but given my views on how limited the subject matter of Hogwarts is that isn't hard to believe.

And once more I was broken from my thoughts by a voice, this one knew to me.

"I don't believe I have seen you before," the male voice spoke, "though it has been a while since I've seen anyone" it added as I turned to find the source to be another portrait.

"My name is Magnus Roark Black, the newly recognised heir to house Black" I introduced myself and showed my heir ring.

The man in the portrait, who looked to be very late fashioned robes making it hard to tell what time era he was from given the wizarding worlds sense of clothing seemed to have stagnated in the late sixteenth century, nodded at my words when he saw my ring, "I see, well this is very exciting isn't it. I am Arcturus Black, the first, and you are most welcome here. It is good to see the house of Black will be able to recover, after the death of Walburga I had feared we would be absorbed by another house, you are our saving grace young man. But might I ask why I have not seen you before this day?"

I nodded, "My father, Regulus, died before I could be introduced to the family, same with my mother, I was left at a muggle orphanage, and only just found out my heritage today,"

Arcturus nodded his head, "I am sorry to hear about your father, Regulus was a good man it broke his mother's heart when he disappeared, no one ever found out what happened to him, she held out hope but when she finally got the courage to check with Gringotts it was confirmed his vault had merged with the main vault, confirming his death"

I nodded not sure what else to say about the matter, in truth I kind of felt a bit like I was intruding on another person's moment here, given that I had my own memories of my life before this, something else I will have to get over, this is my life now, my past life is gone, there's no going back.

Luckily, probably sensing I didn't know what else to say Arcturus changed the subject, "Might I ask what bring you to the Black Library this day, are you just exploring your new home?" he asked

I smiled, "actually I was wanting to learn as much as I could before I began Hogwarts next month, and I have a lot to learn given that I wasn't part of this world for eleven years"

Arcturus nodded, "You have a good head on your shoulders then, you will be sure to find anything and everything in theses shelves, the black library is very extensive, there is not a branch of magic in the world that we do not have a volume of somewhere in here, though I am sad to say that even with a month of free time you will be hard pressed to learn everything other heirs your age will know, even if you retrieved my time dilation pocket watch from the house vaults, you would be hard pressed for time"

I blinked hearing that and reached into my pocket and took out the pocket watch that grandfather had told me to collect from the vault and held it up to him, "you mean this one?" I asked.

Arcturus blinked when he saw it and laughed, "ha, the very same, an ingenious little device that my own invention, because it works like the time dilation bubbles the goblins can put up, those goody two shoes in the ministry couldn't claim it was interfering with time like a time turner, though its effects are somewhat minimal I'll grant you that, but any extra time is always an advantage is it not"

I nodded as I slipped the watch back into my pocket, "it definitely is, but now only one question remains…" I said as I turned to look at all the shelves of books and tombs, "where to start?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright then everyone, literally just got this chapter finished and ran it through Grammarly less than five minutes ago, so this is as hot off the press as it gets, this chapter wasn't technically planned originally, as I had planned this to be the chapter he got the train to Hogwarts with flash backs to some events but things have expanded with my writing and I decided to add this to bring more stuff into play and clean some things up earlier than I intended. Now the next chapter will be what I had planned originally for this chapter so I will begin its writing in the next twelve hours or so, I find myself on a roll with this at the moment and I want to keep that momentum going, so chapter four will be the Hogwarts express, and chapter five will be the house sorting, I've already decided on what house he will be going into, I originally went with one, but then a friend made me realise another was a better option for this particular fiction so I will be going with it, but I'm not saying which just yet, that's half the fun for you all to guess, so have fun reading and make sure to leave detailed reviews.**

* * *

 **Chapter three- Reconnecting with family**

It was early in the next morning that Kreacher and I appeared with a pop in a side ally of Diagon Alley. I bent over with my hands on my knees as I took several deep breaths as I waited for my stomach to settle, I don't think I'm ever going to get used to travelling like that.

I looked to Kreacher and nodded my head, "Thank you for bringing me here Kreacher, I may be in need of your services later, be ready" I told him as I straightened myself up.

The old elf nodded to me, "Young master is too kind," he said before popping away as I turned and walked out of the alley into the main alley as I started towards the large building that was Gringotts bank.

After three hours debating with myself the previous night I had come to the conclusion on what needed to be seen too and arranged before someone else to try and pull something that I didn't want, while I would rather the position of my magical guardian remained unfilled the fact of the matter was it couldn't, if it was still not filled by the time I made it to Hogwarts then chances were good that I would be saddled with someone who would be under Dumbledore's thumb and I wanted to avoid that at all costs, so the only option left to me was to arrange for my own guardian, but only if they met my criteria.

Walking up the steps of Gringotts I headed directly for the head tellers desk stopping in front of it, and I was internally happy that I had glanced over a couple of books in the Black library on goblins to see what was fact and what wasn't and I was very happy with what I read, "Greetings Master goblin, may your vaults fill with gold and your enemies fall by your blade" I greeted him, while internally grinning like a child, the greetings along with most of the other stuff that I already knew about the goblins had turned out to be facts, they had been a warrior race and while they still were ferocious warriors that only the foolish would cross, they now tended to channel their warrior spirit into their banking, which is why I was treated so well given that house Black was one of the oldest and wealthiest families, my assertion to heir Black had brought the houses gold out of stasis which meant more gold to be made which pleased them greatly.

The head teller looked at me sharply his eyes blinking rapidly at my greeting for a couple of seconds before a toothy grin broke across his face, "And may your gold pile higher and your enemies blood flow red, young wizard, what business do you have with Gringotts this day." he asked still grinning.

I held up my hand to him as my heir ring appeared on it for a couple of seconds letting him see before it faded from sight as I withdrew my hand, "I need to speak with my account manager, can you have someone escort me to his office."

The teller nodded and looking over his shoulder he let out a snarl out in goblin speak and another goblin came around the desk, the head teller looked to me once more, "Filnuk here will take you to Ironclaw's office, may your vaults overflow and your enemies fall to your mercy young wizard" he said as he continued to grin.

I nodded, "May your gold overflow, and your enemies cower in fear." I returned before I was led away by Filnuk down the corridor towards Ironclaw's office, in truth I remembered the way to it as I had just visited the day before, but I figured it would be better to have a goblin escort rather than just go walking around Gringotts bank without one and risk being accused of trying to steal from the goblins.

Reaching the door Filnuk gestured for me to go in, I nodded to him and entered, Ironclaw was behind his desk when I did so and he looked up from some paperwork and grinned seeing me, "Ah Master Black. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

I smiled, "I have three matters that I need your aid in. My grandfather's portrait told me that Gringotts knows how to be discreet in matters, which I feel is most important until I am ready to announce to the rest of the wizarding world that hose Black has returned heir and all."

Ironclaw grinned a toothy grin at my statement, "Indeed we are Master Black, and what are matters can Gringotts bank assist the House of Black in today?" he asked as he gestured for me to sit down in the chair on the opposite side of his desk.

I nodded and took my seat, "Well as you can likely imagine after so many years of sitting ideal, Black manor has fallen into disrepair, I have recently restored the wards and bound them to myself with my Grandfathers instructions on how to do so, they are working well, it is the rest of the house that needs to be seen to, I would like to ask to enlist Gringotts aid to see the manor restored"

Ironclaw nodded on this, "Yes I had suspected as much, we can easily arrange to have renovations be done on Black manor, but we will need to have a surveyor out to see all that needs doing before we can begin, of course, all with complete confidentiality as expected" he grinned.

"Of course," I nodded in response, "We can schedule a day, I was hoping to have the renovations start in the next week or so, and take however long is needed, as I will be away at Hogwarts in the months following this," I explained, "Now, as to the next matter, I am sure you are aware being the account manager for the house of Black that the manor only has one house elf, Kreacher, and he is getting on in age and it is this fact that has caused the manor to fall into such a state, I was informed that Gringotts could arrange for the acquisition of a new house elf, preferably a young one or even a pair that could better care for the house and aid its heir, me, in anything I need."

Ironclaw nodded once again, "A very expensive purchase but a necessary expenditure, I can arrange to have a showing of elves for you in the next two to three days for you to take your pick, would that be acceptable?"

I nodded, "Yes. Would the showing take place here at the bank?" Ironclaw nodded and I nodded once more, "Send me an owl with notice as to the time and date when you know and I shall attend, now this third matter is one that I need to be taken care of today, that is of the utmost importance." I said as I leant forward, "As I came into the wizarding world just recently, I was only made aware of the fact that when I attend Hogwarts that the headmaster will take on the responsibilities of being my Magical guardian as I have none and will do so for the time I am there"

Ironclaw nodded, "Yes this is fact, it was put into place in the beginning of Hogwarts when it was obvious that those with only muggle parents couldn't make informed decisions for their children when attending the school, rather foolish if you ask me."

I nodded, "Yes and something I want to prevent happening to myself, but as I have been informed by my grandparents it cannot be stopped, so there is only one option left to me, and that is to choose my own magical guardian before I attend Hogwarts so that the headmaster can't do so for me"

Ironclaw grinned, "A wise decision indeed, I take it you have some people you would like to ask?"

I nodded, "I do and I have a proposition to make them involving it after all one never goes to someone to ask for something and not have a way to make sure they get what they want out of it"

Ironclaw seemed to chuckle darkly at that statement, "Indeed young master Black, do tell me more" he inquired.

* * *

 **Scene break- third person POV**

Andromeda Tonks Nee Black, was not a woman most people dared trifle with, as most people knew the women of the house of Black were forced to be reckoned with, and regardless of the woman's chosen profession of being a Med-witch, she could still throw curses and hexes like Blacks were known for when angered.

Her husband, Edward "Ted" Tonks was another who most knew not to cross as he was an ex-auror who retired to become a law-wizard after his daughter was born, but still kept up his training and could keep up with his wife in order to have her back in any duel or fight.

Their daughter Nymphadora Tonks, who hated her first name, was a recent graduate of Hogwarts, and was currently sporting her latest bright pink hairstyle as she and her mother and father walked up the steps of Gringotts bank after receiving a missive from the Tonks account manager requesting a meeting with all three Tonks most urgently, but none had any idea as to why it was requested as the letter hadn't specified.

"This is really strange, you sure you have no idea what this could be about?" Tonks asked her father.

Ted shook his head, "Not a clue Dora, we'll just have to wait and see" he said as they walked in.

Andromeda was watching around wearily, "I don't like this why would they ask for all three of us, it doesn't make sense," she said as she voiced her concerns.

Ted nodded his head, "It is unusual but I highly doubt the goblins mean us any wrong, come on let go" he placated her as the three turned and headed down a side corridor where the lesser account managers were and soon came to theirs and with a knock and a call to enter they did so.

The Tonks account manager, Ragluk, was sitting behind his desk with a rather large grin on his face which put the Tonks off somewhat, a grinning goblin was a strange sight for most wizards

"As good you've all come as requested, good, this will all run more smoothly then" the goblin spoke.

Andromeda stepped forward, "For what purpose did we all have to come goblin" she demanded wanting answers.

Ragluk put up his hands in a placating manner, "All will be explained shortly, an offer has been made from another house for aid and an alliance, but there are stipulations, one of such is that I have to ask each of you a question and your answer to said question will decide if the offer still stands or not"

Ted frowned at this it was unheard of for a house to just offer aid to another out of the blue and not want something in return, he suspected that's what the other stipulations were but he needed more information, "Which house is offering us this aid and what are the other stipulations?" he asked.

Ragluk shook his head, "I have been instructed to withhold such information until after I have been given your answers for the first stipulation, please take a seat in the three chairs in front of his desk.

The Tonks gave each other glances but nodded to one another and each took their seats with no further complaints, Andromeda sat forward in her chair, after a moment, "Ask the question goblin" she instructed.

Ragluk gave a sharp nod, "The other house requests to know: What is your opinion and do you trust Albus Dumbledore" he stated plainly.

That got various responses from each of the Tonks, Tonks first was too shocked to answer and Ted blinked as he tried to figure out just what the other house could be after wanting to know such information, while Andromeda just crossed her arms and sat back before stated her answer.

"No I don't," She said getting looks from both her husband and her daughter like she had just grown a third head, "Oh don't give me those looks, I was in Slytherin when I was at Hogwarts my views of him are different for a reason"

"But he's Dumbledore," Tonks said sounding scandalised, "How can you not trust him?"

"Because I don't, the man has a power complex, he holds three powerful positions in our world, he claims to be light but yet his actions say differently, he works his wording very carefully and plays manipulation games with others as his pawns, I saw him do so in the last war, it was through his actions that got my cousin Sirius locked up in Azkaban, I don't care what anyone said he was innocent, there was no way a Black would have betrayed the potters when he knew he was the only one capable of doing so, it would have been like him walking into the ministry minutes after the deed was down and declaring it was him who set them up, Gryffindor or not that would be just plain stupidity and Sirius was anything but that" She stated firmly.

Ted nodded his head as his wife continued, "I'm of a similar position on the matter of Sirius, the man was not a fool and there were too many unanswered questions involving his incarceration, and Dumbledore has never been the kind to strike me as letting questions go unanswered except in this instance, I don't trust the man either," he said before deciding to cover his bases, "But if he offered aid I wouldn't turn it down"

Tonks couldn't believe what she was hearing neither of her parents trusted Dumbledore, sure she knew that neither of them had ever spoken highly of the man but to completely not trust him was something she wasn't expecting, and while she wanted to argued differently, both her parents made good points and she didn't honestly know what to think anymore as she swallowed, "I'm not sure anymore, I used to think he was a good guy and part of me still wants to believe it but with what my folks are saying, I'm just not sure anymore" she said sounding a little down hearted.

Ragluk nodded, "Good, those answers are acceptable" he said as he stood up from his chair, "Please follow me, a meeting room has been set up for you and the current head of the other house to meet to discuss the other stipulations, he requested all of you to be there as there is a single stipulation for each of you that each of you will have to agree to, or so I have been told"

The three Tonks stood up and followed Ragluk out of his office and down through the corridor to a prepared meeting room, as they walked in they were greeted with the sight of Magnus sitting on the opposite side of the large table in the room.

Magnus smiled before looking at Ragluk, "Thank you Ragluk, I take it their answers fell within what I asked?"

Ragluk nodded, "They did, I would not have brought them if they didn't" the goblin replied.

Ted looked from Ragluk to Magnus and back before speaking, "What is this, what's going on here, I thought…" he said before Magnus cut him off.

"That you were coming to talk with another lord about offered aid for your house," Magnus said with a smile, "I assure you mister Tonks that this is that meeting, while I may not be a lord I am capable of offering you aid, please sit down, and let me explain" he said and looked to both Andromeda and her daughter, "All three of you"

The Tonks looked to each other for a moment before they moved to take their seats both Tonks women taking a seat on either side of Ted as he sat in the middle facing Magnus who sat with his fingers stapled below his chin as he rested his elbows on the table, "Alright young man, care to explain just what is going on?" Ted asked sternly.

Magnus smiled, "It's really very simple mister Tonks, I am the heir apparent to a very prominent house, one ancient and most noble, currently the last of my name, but I am in need of assistance." Magnus explained, "You see being as both my parents are dead I am without a guardian, magical or otherwise, and come September I am going to be attending Hogwarts school, and by magical law all students who attend Hogwarts school who do not have magical guardians, have that position filled by the prestigious headmaster at the school for as long as I am there, I would like to avoid this and there are only two ways at present to do that, one is not available to me and the other is to have it filled, I would like to request House Tonks aid in doing this."

Tonks blinked, "Wait all this is because you don't want the headmaster to be your magical guardian? Why not?" she asked Magnus not understanding his thinking.

Magnus smirked and shook his head, "I would have thought that was obvious from the question you were all asked before being brought to meet me," he explained before saying in a deadpan tone, "I don't trust Dumbledore, while I have never met the man just reading his title is enough to tell me he's not to be trusted, he has his finger in to many pies, holds to many cards, and I don't want someone like that using his control over me and to an extension my house for his own gains."

Andromeda smirked, "So that's one of the specifications you have for us if we want your house's aid, one of us take on the role of your magical guardian then," she mused as she voices her suspicions.

Magnus nods, "One yes, that one is meant for you Mrs Tonks, while I would request that your husband here becomes my legal counsel, I hear that he is quite the law wizard and I would like to retain his services for any future needs for my house, I'll make sure that all your fees are paid in full of course" he explained as he smirked.

Andromeda gave a snort, "Those are quite the specifications, anything else?" she asked with a smirk of her own.

Magnus grinned, "In point of fact, I do, but it'd to do with your roll of my magical guardian, I would request that you would only hold that as a title only and not use such power to arrange things against my will, I've already had a contract drawn up by the goblins for you to sign to this effect that I will be expecting you do to so should this come into effect, as a precautionary measure, I don't like to take chances"

Ted shook his head, "Nobody will be signing any contracts, we are just talking right now" he said waving his hand to me, "But I am intrigued by your request to retain my services, young man, I'm sure we can work something out if your family is as reputable as we have been lead to believe."

Andromeda looked at Magnus pensively, "You're talking some big game for such a young boy, who by all accounts should only have just been introduced to the world of magic. If what you have said is true, so how is it you know so much? What makes you think that I would even accept signing a contract like that?" she said as her eyes narrowed.

Magnus smiled as he repositioned his hands so his right cheek was resting on his right hand with his fingers showing as his heir ring flickered into view, "Oh dear cousin, I would have thought it would have been obvious, that you never go into a negotiation without making sure you had something the other person wants," he spoke as he watched Andromeda's eyes widen as she saw the ring and realisation donned on both the other Tonks as they heard him speak, "While the condition for house Blacks aid and an alliance between house Tonks and house Black is for you to take up my magical guardianship, your signing the contract is in exchange for me offering to welcome both you and Nymphadora here back as daughters of house Black, lifting your unjust banishment." he explained with his smile never leaving his face.

Andromeda looked at Magnus her eyes wide, "Who are you?" she asked in shock not understanding at all.

Magnus smiled, "You can call me Magnus, I'm Regulus's firstborn, born after his death, and only recently discovered, I claimed my heirship to the house of Black yesterday but as you can understand I'm in a little bit of trouble."

Andromeda looked like she had just been slapped, "Regulus…" she said as she put the pieces together, "Yes I remember, I heard rumours that he had been dating a girl whose family was just only barely recognised as purebloods with three generations of magic in their line, you were hers then"

Magnus nodded, "I am, which is why I am seeking out house Tonks help, I honestly don't like the whole way you were thrown out of the family, hell you are probably the closed thing I have to blood who isn't currently locked up, which is another reason I don't trust Dumbledore, the whole thing around Uncle Sirius's incarceration is very suspicious to me but I have no way to even try and look into it yet, which is one of the reasons I'm wanting to bring mister Tonks here in as a Law-wizard for house Black to try and get the ball rolling and see if everything is on the up and up" he explained to them with a straight face.

Andromeda sat back gobsmacked by what she had just heard as did Ted, the prospects of what Magnus was proposing would be huge for them both.

Tonks who had been too shocked seeing the ring she had only ever been told about to hear her hated name being spoken finally snapped out of things and leaned forward curiously, "So… cousin, we were told you had specifications for all of us, what's mine?" she asked as she crossed her arms across her chest.

Magnus looked to Tonks with a smile, "You're is simple really" he said as he shook his head and his black hair turned pink matching Tonks own shade something that he had been practicing all night doing after getting a book on Metamorphmagus from the Black library, turned out they had an entire row devoted to them

Tonks gasped, "You're a Metamorphmagus like me," she said with a smile on her face.

Magnus nodded, "Yep, it's a magical skill passed down the Black line isn't it," he grinned as his pink hair turned to his usual colour, "Sadly I'm told I'm only a partial Metamorphmagus, I can only alter little things about myself, but it's still tricky enough, and I was hoping to enlist your help in learning how to master what of the skill I have" he smiled to her before looking the three over with a grin, "So are you three interested?"

* * *

 **Scene break**

Half an hour later Magnus and the Tonks came out of Gringotts bank with the contract signed and Andromeda set up as Magnus's new magical guardian thereby protecting house Black and Magnus from any manipulations that Dumbledore could have tried.

"Right then I'll leave you three to get to things, I have files to go hunt down to see if we can't get to the bottom of this whole Sirius matter," Ted said as they walked down the steps.

Magnus nodded his head, "Do that but be careful, if people hear you're asking around about this you could get the wrong kind of attention" Magnus warned him.

Ted gave him a smirk, "I've been doing this a while now Magnus, I think I can look after myself, I know well and good that this is a sensitive matter, I'll tread lightly as possible" he said reassuringly before giving Andromeda a kiss on the cheek and apparated right after to get to work.

Andromeda nodded, "Right you said that you had some business to take care of in the alley first before we can go to Black manor?" she stated.

Magnus nodded, "I did, I have to pick up my robes from Madam Malkin's, I ordered a completely new wardrobe yesterday need to pick them up before we leave, and I need to get myself an owl, in hindsight I should have gotten one yesterday so I could correspond with Gringotts over house matters, but that had slipped my mind given that yesterday that I had no one else to send mail to, that's changed now."

Tonks smirked, "Well I can go and get your clothing if you want, bet the madam will be scared to see me again I gave her quite the headache all those years I was getting my robes as I constantly changed my height and other measurements while she was taking them," she explained with a grin.

Magnus smirked, "Sure thanks, just tell her it's for the second Metamorphmagus she knows, I didn't tell her my name or what house I was from on account of not wanting that information to get out yet" he explained.

Tonks nods, "You got it, see ya in a few cousin" she smirked before heading down the alley ahead of them.

Andromeda looked at Magnus with a raised eyebrow, "You really are a strange little boy, you know that. Planning all this out and hiding your house, all one big plan to keep who you are hidden and not let anyone know just to get things your way, very Slytherin of you in a way."

Magnus smirked, "I'll take that as a complement," he said with an amused tone, he was rather pleased with his actions as of late things were falling into place nicely nothing had gone wrong yet to his knowledge, he had covered all his basis in the meeting, they had agreed to all his terms and he had kept to his with an alliance now formed between house Black and house Tonks, both women were reinstated back into house Black, and he had even set up trust vaults for them both with ten thousand galleons in each to be refiled yearly from the main vault, given how well the blacks were off he didn't see the problem with it as they were entitled to it as much as he was, "I just don't like the idea of someone I don't know controlling me and making me do things I don't want to do, you spend ten years in an orphanage day in day out being told what do to by adults who look down on you because they can feel your different, being treated like a pariah by the other kids, you learn to dislike people controlling you"

Andromeda just nodded accepting that answer as they walked down the alley and into the Owl Emporium, inside they were greeted with the sight of many cages with a number of owls all in their cages. Magnus began to browse the store looking for one that caught his interest, and spotted Hedwig still outside but brushed that idea off immediately not even giving the idea another thought before moving on deeper into the store before coming to a stop at a cage with a most unusual sight.

The owl inside was clearly that of a common Barn owl, but the colours were completely wrong, instead of having a white body with brown wings, it was instead had a brown body and its wings were a dark brown that was almost black, and when he looked at it he could feel something almost like a force pulling him towards the bird.

Thinking to himself for a moment Magnus raised his hand with his detector ring on it thinking that perhaps it was a charm at work to make him drawn to buy the bird, but none of the gems on the ring lit up, he frowned and stepped closer to the bird and looked at it with intrigue, and watched in amusement as it tilted its head at him, he smirked and nodded, "You perfect" he said and lifted the cage down from its hook gently as Andromeda came around the corner.

"Made your choice?" Andromeda asked seeing him with the cage.

Magnus nodded, "Yeah, he'll be perfect for my owl," he said as he held up the cage for her to take a look.

Andromeda made an O with her mouth as she saw him, "Oh my, what usual colours for such an owl, but he is very handsome looking, do you have any idea what you will call him?" she asked.

Magnus looked to be in thought for a moment before nodding, "Erebus, from the Greek Primordial deity representing the personification of darkness". This seemed to get another head tilt from the discoloured owl.

Andromeda raised an eyebrow, "Erebus... it suits him, even if it is a tad unusual" she smirked and turned heading to the front.

Magnus followed closely behind her with his new owl as he tried to go over things in his head about what was next to do when he got back to the manor when suddenly there was another voice in his head.

 ** _'Thank you for the very fitting name, young-wizard, not many would give such a name to an owl.'_**

Magnus stalled in his steps but quickly fell back into his stride so as not to let the sudden happening be known to those around him, _'Erebus?'_ he thought mentally.

 ** _'Yes young wizard you are hearing my voice inside your head, though we are not bonded yet, I hope to do that shortly with you, it is only because of our close proximity that I am able to speak with you like this'_** the voice said.

Magnus looked down at the owl and raised his eyebrow, _'I take it that you aren't a normal owl then?'_

Erebus seemed to slightly shake its head, **_'No I am not, but it would be best if we were in private for me to reveal my true form, and for us to bond properly, but might I request that you purchase a perch for a much larger avian, I have been cramped in this cage for so long'_**

Magnus seemed to smirk at the comment and chalked up the next thing on his to-do list as he made the necessary purchases, much to Andromeda's confusion before they left the store to meet up with Tonks before they apparated back to the manor.

* * *

 **Scene break**

The three appeared on the streets outside the manor, both women looked around, Tonks was confused, "Um mom what are we doing here, I thought you were taking us to the manor" she asked looking around.

Andromeda nodded, "I was but all I can seem to remember is this street," she said before looking to Magnus, "I take it's because of some form of magic over the manor?" she asked unable to remember what was the reason.

Magnus nodded to her before speaking aloud to them both, "Black manor is located at number twelve Grimmauld Place"

Tonks looked to him for a moment as his words registered before she looked ahead and her eyes widened, "Wow, where the hell did that come from" she said shocked as if seeing the manor for the first time.

Andromeda groaned and held her head as something seemed to fall into place and she looked up seeing the manor as well, "I see, I remember now, the manor was hidden by a Fidelius Charm, when I was cast out of the family all knowledge of it was sealed in my mind so I couldn't betray the family any further… it certainly looks a lot more run down than I remember."

Magnus nodded, "Yeah just what I thought when I first saw it, the inside isn't much better, but I have arranged with Gringotts for a surveyor to come out in the next couple of days to do a quote on how much it would cost to see the manor restored to its original state, and I have another meeting with House-elf breeders to purchase a pair of new elves to keep the house in good working order, Kreacher is getting too old to do it himself."

Andromeda groaned, "Kreacher, I had almost forgotten about that monstrous little elf, is he still as foul-mouthed as I remember?"

Magnus shrugged as they walked towards the manors doors, "He seems alright with me, but I think that's something to do with him serving my dad before me and to do with my Heirship of the house of Black, he's treated me rather well, I even had him restock the pantry and clean the kitchen up last night, it, the library and my bedroom are probably the only three well-kept rooms in the house at this point,"

Opening the door the three stepped in and Tonks gave a whistle, "Yeah I can see what you mean, this place could really do with a good clean out and some major renovations" she said as she looked around.

Andromeda gave a sigh, "Home sweet home," she said with a droll, "Doesn't look like much has changed but the dust since I last set foot in here" she said not sounding one bit impressed.

Magnus nodded, "I didn't think it would have, so what do you two want to do first?" he asked them.

Andromeda gave a smirk, "I think I'm going to go have a word with my dear old auntie, I can't wait to rub it in her face about this, she took a little too much pleasure in blasting me off the family tapestry, just wait till she finds out that I've been welcomed back."

Tonks shrugged, "I'll go fix the three of us some lunch then, then after we can make a start on cleaning yeah? Looks like there's a lot to do."

Magnus nodded, "Sure, Andromeda mind waiting till I get Erebus set up in my trunk before I join you, I'd rather explain my reasons to my grandmother, so she isn't screaming down the house"

Andromeda nodded, "Sure I don't mind. What room are you staying in?"

"Second floor, in the room that used to belong to my father," Magnus said and gestured towards the stairs.

Andromeda looked sad for a moment but nodded, "Alright then, come on" she said starting towards the stairs carrying the large stand that Magnus had bought for Erebus.

Magnus followed behind her holding Erebus's cage and she shrunken boxes with his clothes in his pocket, while Tonks headed for the kitchen area to start making them lunch.

Reaching Magnus's bedroom Andromeda opened the door and she was greeted with the familiar sight, the room was now restored to its original size, three times the size that it had been when Magnus had first come in, the fireplace was further back and there was much more room to move, two large armchairs were placed on either side of the fireplace facing it their green upholstery looking worn with time, the dresser was still against the wall which was now further away from the bed giving more room to walk.

"It's just how I remember it," Andromeda commented as she came in.

Magnus smirked, "I haven't changed much of it, I spent last night in my trunks bedroom, the bed is more spacious and comfortable in there" he said as he walked over to the trunk and opened its lid, "I'll climb down, and you can pass me the stand when I'm in, would you mind waiting till I have Erebus set up on his stand?" he asked.

Andromeda nods, "I can do that," she said as she looked around the room with fond recollection.

Magnus nodded and started down his trunk with Erebus's cage in hand, getting down he was passed the large stand as well and carried both it and Erebus down the corridor of the trunk.

"Alright, where do you think I should set you up, my library and office or maybe out in the living room?" Magnus asked allowed knowing that Erebus could understand him.

 ** _'Your office works fine, and we still have matters to discuss, and our bonding to go through'_** Erebus responded in his head.

"Yeah, you mentioned something like that back in the alley, what's your deal anyway, what's with this bonding?" Magnus asked as he opened the door to his office and walked in.

 ** _'It is what must happen with every wizard when they are the chosen one to be bonded with a Phoenix'_**

Magnus stopped in his tracks when he heard that and looked down at the cage in shock, "Y-You're a phoenix, like Fawkes" he asked in shock.

Erebus bristles his feathers at the comment, _'Don't compare me to that poor excuse for a phoenix, Fawkes is only a shadow of what a true phoenix is meant to be like, his powers, size and capabilities have greatly demised since he was forcibly bonded to that wizard of his.'_

Magnus was taken back by the comment as his mind raced to put together what that meant and his eyes widened, "Dumbledore forcibly bonded Fawkes to him? But why would he do that?"

Erebus snorted in Magnus's mind as if amused by the question, **_'Simple, because people are easily fooled by what they believe, and are easily manipulated by their beliefs, such as the belief that we phoenixes will only bond with those who are forces of good, because we ourselves are the embodiment of light, when the reality couldn't be farther from the true, as we phoenixes are like magic itself, neither good nor evil, we just are. As for our choices in out bonded, we can feel when someone has a great destiny in front of them and we choose to bond to them in order to go with them through that destiny, it doesn't matter to us if that destiny is to be the world's saviour or its destroyer, we choose who are bonded are because we feel their destiny is worthy of us to be a part of it, just like I sense of you. Fawkes would have never willingly bonded with a pathetic excuse of a wizard such as he is now, what Phoenix would judge that man's destiny to be worthy of their partaking in it.'_**

Magnus didn't know what to say to that, but one thing was clear to him now, Dumbledore was definitely not as he seemed to be, he had already suspected the man, but if this was true then it just confirmed it for him without a doubt.

"Why do you look like an owl if you're really a phoenix then?" Magnus asked.

Erebus bristled his feathers again, **_'Like I said before we Phoenix are thought to be the embodiment of light, and so expected to bond with wizards who are light, we are hounded by various wizards wanting to try and persuade us to bond with them, some even try to force a phoenix into bonding like that Dumbledore did to Fawkes, which would have been no small feat, it gets annoying after so long, and after the last fool tried to force me into a bonding and failed I was able to convince his student to place a spell on me that would allow me to hide my true form so that I would not be bothered by fools who would attempt such again'_**

Magnus listened as he set up the stand for Erebus and raised it to its full heights and screwed its top on placing the metal dish below it meant for food, but Magnus realised it would more than likely be used for Erebus's ashes on his burning days.

"But that's something I don't get," Magnus responded as he finished setting up the large standing, "If bonding a Phoenix is such a hard thing to do, why did you call Dumbledore a pathetic excuse of a wizard, wouldn't it take a powerful wizard to do such a thing?"

Erebus was silent for a moment but bobbed his head in agreement, **_'It would yes, the wizard would have to have the power to constantly bombard the Phoenix with his will, to force the bonding to happen, doing so revelry weakens the Phoenix and we are drained of our strength in the battle, many wizards don't have the strength on their own to do this, that's why forced bondings are so rare, Dumbledore could never do such on his own, not with how strong he actually is'_**

Magnus' eyes seemed to widen at the realisation of what Erebus meant, "The elder wand, that's how he did it, the strongest wand, it increased his power to the point that he could easily do something such as force a phoenix into a bonding"

 ** _'Yes young-wizard that is it'_** Erebus responded, **_'it was only after his attaining that wand was Fawkes seen with Dumbledore because he had never the power before to force the bonding before he claimed the wand from the dark lord he defeated'_**

"Grindelwald, the last owner of the elder wand before Dumbledore," Magnus stated as he started to put the pieces together.

Once again Erebus nodded his head, **_'Yes, after defeating his so-called friend and claiming his wand the wizarding world was already singing his praises, his image only bolstered by his magic which was secretly enhanced by his new wand, but when he was seen with Fawkes as his familiar it solidified it in people's minds that Albus Dumbledore was a true force for good in the world, like I said people are easily fooled by what they believe, and are easily manipulated by their beliefs'_**

Magnus shook his head as everything fell into place, _'He tricked and manipulated all of them into believing that he was a force for good so that he could attain his own greater good… funny that it's the same saying that his friend Grindelwald used to follow… you have to wonder just who's greater good he is trying to achieve'_

Erebus snorted again, **_'That's a very good question perhaps one day you can ask him that to his face'_**

Magnus snorted in return with a smirk, "Perhaps one day I will, but for now let's get you out of that cage and get this bonding done" he said as he walked over to the cage and opened it taking the beautify coloured owl out of its cage and over to the large stand placing it on its perch, "Just out of curiosity, how do you know all of this?"

Erebus gave what could only be described as a smirk, **_'We Phoenix have our ways, the tale of Fawkes is something all phoenixes know well, as it was one of the successful forced bonding's, why do you think phoenixes stay clear of Britain in general, none wish to take the chance of him forcing another bonding, the only reason I stayed is because I can hide myself, no other Phoenix wants to even risk it'_**

Magnus nodded at that it made sense, "So how do we go about this bonding thing?" he asked curiously.

Erebus stretched his wings out glad to be free of its small cage and bristled its feathers, **_'It's simple really, I just need to peck your hand and draw your blood, our magic will do the rest to bond us and then I can show you my true form.'_**

Magnus sighed and shook his head, "What is it with magic and blood, it seems like every day now I have to bleed to do anything" he stated in mock annoyance as he held out his hand to the bird.

Erebus snorted in his mind once more before his head bobbed forwards at Magnus's hand and his sharp beak nipped at the boy's finger with a quick nip that drew blood, Magnus gave a hiss and withdrew his hand seeing the blood and groaned, "It that it"

Erebus nodded his head before his whole body seemed to glow at the same time as Magnus felt a pressure on his head which made him wince, like the world's worst migraine compressed into a couple of seconds before it began to fade with the glow.

Magnus had shielded his eyes while gripping his head from the pain but when he looked at Erebus again his eyes widened at what he saw, in the place of the different coloured barn owl that had been there moments before there was a phoenix that was at least twice the size of Fawkes, its colours matching that of its previous form, and it looked to be very healthy which made Magnus realise just how bad the effects of the forced bonding were on Fawkes if this was what he was meant to look like.

"You're gorgeous Erebus, so this is what you really look like?" Magnus stated looking at the magnificent creature.

Erebus nodded his head, his black eyes never leaving Magnus, **_'It is, as you have no doubt guessed from my difference appearance to Fawkes we are not the same kinds of Phoenix, while he is a fire phoenix I am a dark fire phoenix, a distant cousin of Fawkes's as it were'_**

Magnus nodded, "I did notice." He stated, "I take it now that we are bonded it means something more? And is it possible for you to return to your owl-form?"

Erebus looked to Magnus for a few moments as his reasons for the questions were made clear and the phoenix nodded again, **_'Yes I can, I will be able to hide my form from Dumbledore as you plan on such he will not suspect or realise what I am until you want him to know, as for our bond, we can now talk over much greater distances, you will be able to call me from anywhere and I will know exactly where you are in order to go to you'_**

Magnus nodded as he went over everything he could remember about phoenixes and looked to Erebus, "Is it true that you can travel with fire like wizards can apparate?" he asked checking.

Erebus nodded, **_'We can, and we can also take passengers, so should you ever need to be taken from a place calling me to get you out is always an option'_**

Magnus nodded again, "And a handy one at that," he said aloud before looking to the door, "Listen I've got to go for now, can we talk later, Andromeda will be waiting up in the room and I don't want her getting impatient and coming down here."

Erebus nodded, **_'Very well Magnus, I will wait for your return, should you need to talk to me just think of me in your thoughts and I will hear them.'_**

Magnus nodded, and after leaving his shrunken clothes in his office he quickly made for the ladder and started climbing out of the trunk, only to find Andromeda sitting on one of the chairs with an old photo in her hand looking at it with fondness, in it was a picture of a young Regulus and a young Andromeda both in their Hogwarts uniforms, she set it down as she looked to Magnus coming out of the trunk.

"Sorry, that took so long the perch was harder to set up than I thought" Magnus commented as he closed the lid to his trunk.

Andromeda nodded as she stood up, "Understandable, you could have… your bleeding" she said as she saw the cut on Magnus's hand.

Magnus looked as well and winced slightly completely having forgotten to ask Erebus if he could heal the cut for him and quickly thought up a lie, "Oh yeah, I was a little over excited with Erebus, he didn't appreciate it apparently, and gave me a little nip, no big deal" he brushed it off, well it wasn't completely a lie as it had been Erebus who'd given him it, just not for that reason.

Andromeda gave a sigh and a smirk rolling her eyes, "Children will be children" she muttered under her breath as she took out her wand, "Come here and let me fix that for you, you don't want to be getting blood everywhere" she said as she walked over to Magnus taking his hand up as she waved her wand over it with an utterance of "Episkey" the wound gave a hiss before closing itself, "There all done."

Magnus smirked, "I'm going to have to remember that one, could come in handy," he said off handily.

Andromeda smirked as she put her wand away, "Episkey, is a mild healing charm, good for small things like this but not larger things," she told him, "Now shall we go and say hello to my dear Aunt and your grandmother"

Magnus nodded, "This should be fun, but I stand by bringing you back in, your blood, my only blood still alive let her yell, I'll have her removed if she doesn't shut up about it"

Andromeda smirked, "I can see why she might have taken a liking to you," as they walked out of the room and proceeded up to the third floor.

No sooner were they one foot off the stairs was the voice of Walburga heard yelling.

"You, what are you doing in this house. How dare you set foot back inside the house that you turned your back on, you blood-traitor, Kreacher, remove this blood-traitor at once!" Walburga screeched, and in a pop, Kreacher appeared to carry out the portraits orders.

Magnus then stepped forward, "Kreacher stop, as heir Black, I order you to stop this at once" he said his voice hard making the aged elf stop as ordered before kneeling and bowing his head to Magnus who waved his hand to the elf, "Leave" and with that Kreacher popped away again.

Walburga's portrait looked enraged her eyes wide as she glared at the scene, "Magnus, what is the meaning for this outrage, what is that blood traitor doing in this house!" she screeched.

Magnus turned his glare on her and spoke again his tone hard, "You will be silent and listen to what I have to say before you speak on matters you know not about" he said as he unintentionally channelled magic through his voice that made it boom throughout the manor.

Walburga's eyes went wide to most it would seem out of further anger about being spoken to like that, but in actual fact, it was out of shock and a little fear that she did so, and that kept her from speaking on the matter further waiting for Magnus to continue.

Andromeda also looked at Magnus in shock, the sudden booming voice had caught her off guard, it made her rethink her stance on the boy yet again, this being at least the fifth time since meeting him, she just couldn't get a feel for him, and every time she did he did something else that seemed to throw her entire perception of him off, whether it was intended to or not didn't matter it was pissing her off a little bit, she had never had this much trouble reading someone before and it was driving her up the wall.

Magnus for his part kept a cool face at his sudden booming voice, while inside he was rather impressed with himself, he had intended just to raise his voice a bit but that was way better than what he had intended it to be he quickly made a mental note of what he did so he could repeat the effect later if necessary before quickly continuing his talking a couple of moments later just long enough for the effect he wanted.

"I spoke to you yesterday evening about the matters of my magical guardianship, how I did not want Albus Dumbledore to retain such position nor anyone else, for fear that they might abuse that power over me, and by an extent use that control to control house Black, and after talking with grandfather, I was informed that there was no way to prevent someone from being placed as my magical guardian nor to keep Albus Dumbledore from taking that position as he does with every muggle born or orphaned child that goes to Hogwarts," Magnus started his eyes never leaving the portrait's, "The steps that I have taken today were to keep this from becoming an issue in the future, by choosing my own magical guardian on my own terms to prevent any such abuse of power over myself or house Black, as such Cousin Andromeda has been reinstated into house Black on my authority along with her daughter Nymphadora, both are now as they should have always been daughters of house Black, and because of the rules in place I retain my heirship of house Black, and through negotiations house Black and house Tonks are now allied houses with Cousin Andromeda taking up my Magical guardianship to which extent she signed a contract that stipulates exactly what control she has over me and house Black which is exactly none, meaning she is only a figure head, a place filler as it where to keep the position from being filled by another who would not be limited by the contract she signed," Magnus continued as he watched Walburga's eyes continue to widen more and more at his every word, "On top of this I also retained her husband's services as a Law-wizard for house Black and he will begin searching into the questionable incarceration of my Uncle some eleven years ago which I am certain he will find there is something amiss with, every action I have taken this day is for the betterment of house Black and myself, all of which leave you no ground to voice your objections to my actions"

Walburga seemed to be pensive at that comment while Andromeda seemed to look on impressed at Magnus's stance, he didn't let her have any ground in that argument, she didn't see much that Walburga could argue against his actions with, everything had been done as he said for the betterment of him and the house.

After several seconds Walburga cleared her throat and nodded to Magnus, "I concede that your actions have had the effect that you wanted them to have, even though you did so through questionable means" she said as she eyed Andromeda with distaste.

Magnus narrowed his eyes, "Please elaborate grandmother, in what way do you define my means as questionable" he asked his tone not wavering as he did so, he was more than ready to defend all his actions.

Walburga raised her chin slightly at the question, "Bringing back a blood traitor into the family, Andromeda chose to shun the family when she married that mud blood husband of hers, she is a traitor to her house, it was the reason she was cast out, you could have sought out her sister, Narcissa is a fine woman and am sure would have gladly have taken up your guardianship had you asked her to do so,"

Magnus shook his head, "Let me go in reverse order here and tell you why I did as I did, your recommendation of Narcissa is noted, but you fail to note one key fact, her son Draco was, before I was discovered, the next in line for heirship of house Black, had she been informed of my existence she would have told her husband about it, and from what I know of Lucius Malfoy he would not take kindly to what he would perceive as my stealing his sons heirship especially when his son realises how much he's lost out on and starts complaining about it, if Narcissa was my magical guardian it would only be too easy for her husband to see me shuffle off this mortal coil in order for his son to slip right back into his position as the next heir Black" he explained making Walburga's eyes widened before they narrowed somewhat and she began to nod in agreement, she hadn't taken in that into account apparently.

Andromeda on her part snorted in amusement she knew her sister well, and it wouldn't have been on Lucius's orders, Narcissa would have taken the initiative herself to see her son as the next lord black before ever consorting with her husband, it was no secret how badly her sister wanted back into the black vault and the wealth inside it, sure the Malfoys had money but they were nowhere near as wealthy as the blacks and even with both her allowance as Lady Malfoy and her trust vault from being a daughter of the house of Black she still wanted more, and with her son to become the next Lord Black she was sure to get it, well that was until Magnus showed up and snatched that hope away, she had no doubt that if given the chance Narcissa would see Magnus disappear if it meant her son would become Lord black.

"Now to address your comment about her being a blood traitor," Magnus continued unaware of the thoughts going through Andromeda's mind, "That is complete dragon dung, her actions in marrying Ted Tonks should be commended, because of their outcome which is one of the reasons I find her banishment so unfair and was why I was so quick to rectify it" he stated and saw the look of shock and Confusion on Walburga's face and the look of confusion that came over Andromeda when he said that "Let me explained as I can see you are both confused on this, tell me grandmother what is one of the blacks magical skills that has all but died out over the generations?" he asked.

Walburga frowned at this before she spoke, "The skills of the Metamorphmagus, it used to be that such skill was ours but as the years went by the skill has faded from our blood, but what does any of this have to do with what we speak of now"

Andromeda's eyes widened hearing that and she looked like Christmas had just come early as Magnus spoke.

"Well grandmother you will be excited to know that during my check up the other day I learned that I possess a lesser form of this skill, I have been told that I might not be able to change my appearance to greet extents I will have some talents in it, but the reason I bring this up in this instance is because of Andromeda's daughter, who is an accomplished Metamorphmagus, the first ever to come from the black family in generations" Magnus came out with as he watched the look of complete shock come over Walburga's featured and the wide shit eating grin on Andromeda's face at that moment, before Magnus continued, "And the only conclusion I can draw how both I and Nymphadora were born with our skills is our blood, and that it was the inclusion of fresh blood from outside the other families that the Blacks have married into before that has caused this to happen, and therefore her actions at the time, though unproven, were of benefit to house Black and thus her banishment was unjust and undeserving" he said his tone with an air of finality to it.

Walburga was left utterly speechless at that final statement, she had no way of disproving what Magnus was saying nor did she have any way to rebut his actions about lifting Andromeda's banishment, if this was true it meant that quite possibly everything that the whole belief system of the purebloods, that she had been raised to believe was wrong, she didn't know what else to say, and so was left with only one option left, to eat some crow.

"I… apologise for my statements, they were unfounded and spoken before I could take full stock of the situation and all that it entailed," Walburga stated solemnly, "I ask your forgiveness Heir black, it is not my place to question your decisions, merely that to give advice when sought."

Magnus nodded his head, "Apology accepted grandmother, now if you will excuse me I will see how Tonks is getting on with lunch and I shall leave you two to talk, as you have much to talk about" he said before bowing his head and turning back to the stairs to return to the bottom floor.

No sooner had he rounded the corner and was halfway down the stairs Andromeda turned to look to the portrait of her Aunt having watched Magnus leave and gestured with her head to the stairs, "He's really something isn't he."

The portrait of Walburga nodded her head in agreement, "Indeed, he is… something" she said as she looked at the stairs her thoughts on her grandson who continued to surprise her with his every action.


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright everyone, another chapter freshly finished, sorry this one took so long. I've just been really busy here, for those of you who have noticed, I did a major clean-up of chapter one seeing as I had so many complaints about things, hopefully that should make some people happy.**

 **Now to comment on some peoples review saying that Erebus being a Phoenix is too much, I'm sorry if you feel that way, it was actually a spur of the moment thing for me but has then blossomed into something more when I did the whole forced bonding story about Dumbledore and Fawkes, plus I figured it add a bit of foreshadowing to Magnus's future, as a Phoenix only bond with those who have great destinies ahead of them that they deem worthy to be a part of. Kind of sets a theme for what to expect lol.**

 **Anyway I hope you all enjoy this new chapter, and please leave a review when you're through, I enjoy reading all.**

* * *

 **Chapter four- The Hogwarts Express**

I sat cross-legged on the newly laid carpet of the Lord's office in complete darkness thanks to the drawn curtains that kept light out much better than the old ones. The reason for my current position was simple, it was part of the new morning routine that I had fallen into in the past month here at Black manor.

I had finished my morning exercises half an hour ago and now I was just completing my latest occlumency session. Clearing my mind was difficult at first but over the month with daily practice, it was something that I was able to do at a moment's notice, and in the very next moment I was able to raise up my defences. Which if I was to say so were very extensive.

Occlumency at its base was the concept of creating a space to store your thoughts in an organized way and then erecting strong stable barriers in order to keep people out of them. The better someone is at occlumency the stronger the barriers will be and the greater the number of them. The thing was once you had learned to erect a single barrier learning to put up more was easy, it just took time to practice doing so in order to make them stronger and more numerous. So far I was up to a cool two hundred and thirty-five barriers in under a second, and they were pretty strong.

The rest of my time I had put into actually organizing my thoughts and memories, and let me tell you there are a lot of them. There was also the emotions that I had involved in it all, as with occlumency your emotions can be better controlled, I had reached that stage by the end of the first week, which was interesting. You accomplished this by creating an image of an object inside your head which is the embodiment of the emotion you are trying to control and then you are able to close it away, it was more like emotion suppressing than controlling but it worked.

As for my actual mindscape, that was the place where all my memories were stored so I could view them when I wished simply by closing my eyes to review my thoughts, I chose to make my own little library with books filling the shelves with the various memories within their pages. I had spent a full three days organizing things to just how I like them a shelf for my early years and all the unimportant things and then shelves with things that were relevant to my life now. Mainly all things relevant to the world I was now living in, and it was with this that I had come to the conclusion on how things were going to go along with all the ways I could make them happen, though currently, I was in no position to see any of them done as of yet anyway.

So until I was I just had to sit back and wait and build on what I have and know to prepare myself for what was to come, which I had been doing for the past month.

In the month that had passed things had only gone from good to great, with the surveyor coming from Gringotts the day after my meeting with the Tonks. I had been given a quote and a timescale on how long it would take to fix all that was wrong with the house, which wasn't all that much, aside from a complete re-carpeting and re-flooring of most of the rooms, with new wallpaper or paint put on and updating the furniture and some décor it didn't take that long at all. Well, it would have had I went about organising it all myself, but through Gringotts, Ironclaw had everything managed for me with each group that came to the manor sworn to secrecy as to who they were doing work for. As soon as one group was done with one task the next group came in to do the next with no downtime. It took a grand total of five days but after those five days, the manor was looking by far more like the manor that it was when I first moved in and with the two new elves I had purchased the manor was kept spotless. During the renovation, I even discovered there was a back garden that Aunt Andy had shown me. I had taken to calling her that give that it didn't really seem right calling an older woman my cousin when I was in the body of an eleven-year-old.

Aunt Andy had taken to renovating the garden when she was here with the aid of one of the elves, and it now had various fruits and vegetables growing in one area and magical herbs and other plants growing in the other.

She has even offered to give me potion lessons during the summer using the ingredients grown in the garden, saying that she understands from having to give Tonks potion lessons in the summer during her time at Hogwarts. That apparently the current potions professor at Hogwarts was sub-par than expected, something that I didn't doubt as I knew it was Snape and while I respected the man for his achievement of becoming a recognised potions master at such a young age, even if that was because of Dumbledore's manipulations, I don't like the man on a whole for his character.

But I hadn't been ideal the past month and just studied occlumency, not when I had the whole Black library at my disposal and both my grandparents to give me advice on what to learn. I had spent my days in three parts. The first was on my Hogwarts books, going over everything in them, and practising the spells, with Aunty Andy or Tonks here to give me some pointers on things I didn't understand, which wasn't much given that the books were written for eleven-year-olds to understand.

When Tonks was here we went over various lessons on how to develop my skills as a Metamorphmagus, things were going… well in a word, great, surprisingly. Tonks turned out to be a reasonable teacher on the subject and was able to break everything down for me on how it all worked, and in the end, it came down to practising, which I had been getting plenty of during my other lessons

The second third of my day was spent on my heir lessons, spend going over everything an heir or a lord would have to know, and that was a lot. Those lessons were split in half as well, half with Walburga on manners, etiquette and the more delicate matters, while the second half would be with Orion going over the laws and matters of importance involving politics, in the second week of it all I had a joint lesson with them both on the importance on controlling my emotions, this had led to the progression of emotional control in occlumency and the development of what I termed my ice mask where I clamp down my occlumency barriers and lock away my emotions. I truthfully didn't like the feeling of it, it left me feeling cold and hard to the world hence why the term for the mask, but I had no doubt it would be necessary at times in the future.

And the final third of my day, well that was when I had the most fun. I spend the first half of it learning about spells that most would consider dark magic, curses and hexes of the most brutal kind, and questionable forms of other magics and the more combat orientated versions of some magics, like battle transfiguration or conjuration, now those two were some of my favourites after looking over several spells, but some of the curses were more particularly brutal, and after spending the first half of that time learning about them, I started to practice them using the training room in my trunk, which I had added a lot to. Given the amount of space I had available in it, I had made a lot of improvements.

On the non-magical side, I had gotten a number of exercise and weightlifting equipment set up so I had basically the equivalent of a fully working gym in my trunk, and while I know that It will be a year or so before I was able to start using them, it made me feel good to know I had them ready in advance.

On the magical side of things though I was set up as well, on the recommendations of my grandparents I had went to Gringotts at the end of the first week and gotten a hold of a number of enchanted training dummies, but these weren't for punching oh no, these things were magical and mechanical, made from goblin steel and enchanted near indestructible with a magic core of their own, that were enchanted to respond to different phrases used for target dummies as well as duelling opponents, I had seven of them ordered and I spent at least three hours a day flinging spell and dodging the returns from one of them as I grew accustomed to my smaller body in the midst of combat.

It seemed the more I trained myself on my Metamorphmagus skills the less of a pain my clumsiness became and I was moving more naturally though I had researched ways in which I might rid myself of the clumsiness by other means, and I had found an option, a ritual of sorts that I meant to attempt, though it was somewhat dark, I didn't intend to use if for a while yet at least, as after thinking through the things I would need I determined my second year was my best bet to get them all.

But right now that was all neither here nor there, as I opened my eyes and with a flick of my wand the curtains opened flooding the room with light. It was September first, and the day I was go to get the Hogwarts express.

I rotated my neck and stood to my feet as I stretched my limbs out as I looked around the new décor of the lords office, the deep green carpet of the office that had been worn by time was replaced with a warmer wine red that was so dark it was almost brown, but gave the room a warmer atmosphere, the mothballed, dark green curtains had been replaced by thick black ones with silver lining, and the walls that has been painted a pale egg shell colour with paint that was starting to peel had been repainted with a darker shade of red than the carpet, which pulled the room together.

"How are you progressing?" my grandfather's portrait asked me as I stretched my legs after sitting like that for half an hour.

"Same number of barriers," I replied, "but they're certainly a lot stronger than they were when I started, should be enough to keep anyone foolish enough to try a passive probe out of my thoughts"

Orion nodded his head to me, "Good, you've come a long way in just a month, do you think you're ready?" he asked me.

I sighed as I slipped my wand back into my wrist holster, "As ready as I will ever be at this early stage of my training, I wouldn't mind another month to be sure but whether I'm ready or not doesn't matter I have to go ready or not."

Shaking my head I ran my hands through my now shoulder length hair, courtesy of my Metamorphmagus abilities, which was only one of the tricks I had picked up in my training with Tonks. While my abilities were subtle, that was all I needed for them to be useful in the right situations.

With my hair back out of my face I looked to the clock on the wall to see the time before I called out, "Zeff!" and with a pop, one of the two elves I had purchased at the beginning of the month appeared before me.

"Yes master Black?" the young elf said as I glanced down to hi, he was shorter than Kreacher and looked at me with his large almost tennis ball size eyes that were bright green, while dressed in the black cloth clothing I had given both he and his brother after I purchased them, it had taken some explaining that I wasn't given them clothes but a uniform to wear that they were expected to keep clean to represent house Black as its elves, they had seemed very happy and pronounced it their honour to do so. Kreacher also seemed happy with the uniform, given that it was softer and warmer than the rags that they were used to.

"Is my trunk packed and ready, as per my instructions yesterday?" I asked looking down at him.

Zeff nodded his head rapidly, "Oh yes Master Black, everything is as you commanded, Zeff and Zeby made sure everything was done," he said with a proud smile, "your books are all in the library, your robes are all pressed and put away in the master bedroom, your pantry is stocked, the firewood is cut and by the fireplace, your potion store is stocked, and beautiful birdies food is all done, your bed is made, all items you requested are in your office from the Black vault at Gringotts and Mistress Andromeda has been given the item as per your orders."

I smiled at that, Erebus and these two had been getting along splendidly the past day, both the two elves had seen him in his phoenix form and immediately dubbed him the beautiful birdie, much to Erebus's amusement.

"Excellent work Zeff, that will make things run much more smoothly with everything set up" I said as Zeff seemed to glow at my praise, "now I still have an hour before I have to go for the train, can you have your brother make me up a filling breakfast, while you prepare me something to eat on the train, I don't wish to get hungry on the long journey" I asked

"Oh, right away Master Black," Zeff said before he disappeared with a pop.

Orion chuckled slightly, "those two elves you purchases are quite the pair, I've never seen two elves more pleased to work, and they do look well in those robes you gave them"

I nodded, "I have to maintain an image after all, as I see it they represent house Black as much as any of its members, and having them run around in filthy rags sets a bad precedent" I said before walking over to the large mirror I had installed on the wall to the left of the desk as I checked over my appearance something I had been doing quite a bit recently with all my Metamorphmagus lessons and my lessons from Walburga about how an heir is expected to act and appear.

My steel grey dress shirt was well kept along with my black trousers and shoes, when combined with my grey eyes and shoulder-length black hair I looked quite good for my age, or as Walburga would say I looked like a proper heir.

While I could turn my hair or eyes any colour I wanted and even add several inches to my height at a moment's notice. I was comfortable with my current height and appearance my only modification being my hair, given that I was so used to is being this length when I was older it helped somewhat. My grey eyes also played well to my appearance, as while most tend to overlook them when I am talking to them, working well with my ice mask but should I desire I've learned that with a slight colour change to my eyes and increasing my height when I am up close to someone can prove to be rather intimidating, and I'm looking forward to when I can put it you use.

Satisfied with my appearance I nodded as I lifted my black over-robe from the desk and turned to head for the door out to the hall when my grandfather's portrait spoke, "good luck Magnus, and be safe"

I smiled and nodded, "thank you, grandfather, I'll try to be," I said before I left the room.

* * *

 **Scene break**

An hour later I was stepping out of the public floo and onto platform nine and three quarters pulling my trunk out after me, thankful for the weightless charm that was on it making it as light as a feather. While I could have just shrunk it and kept it in my pocket I didn't want people to know my trunk could do that yet, nor did I want anyone knowing all the enchantments on my trunk, it was my ace in the whole.

I started to brush the soot off my shoulders from the floo as I walked down the platform, it wasn't overly crowded yet given that I had arrived well ahead of the departure time, given that I wanted to make sure I was able to get a compartment to myself so that I could have time to myself to go over my plans for my first year of Hogwarts.

Aunty Andy and Tonks had offered to see me off from the platform my I had kindly denied them both as it would draw some speculation for them to be here given that Andy didn't have any more children so people would be wondering who I was I didn't need that attention… yet anyway. I had no doubt that things would get interesting at the sorting feast, given that now that I had found my house the attendance book filled with names of Hogwarts students would reflect that and so would all Hogwarts documents including the list that would be called off at the sorting, meaning that my identity as a Black would be made public knowledge tonight. Though I already had steps in motion with Ted in order to counteract what I predict would obviously happen after tonight, I was confident I had all my bases covered.

Stepping into the train I went down the compartments until I stopped at the first empty one I found, before stepping in and shutting the door behind me before taking my wand out and with a wish and a flick I levitated my trunk up and into the above storage space with a smirk at my on silent casting, even if it was a simple charm, it had taken me ages to get that and a couple of others learned in the month to that extent, casting verbally was easy it's the silent casting that's a pain, I had only started getting the spells working silently in the last week of the month I knew that I was going to be training just as much to learn the others to the same extent.

With the compartment door closed and my trunk stored I returned my wand to my sleeve and moved to sit on the left-hand window seat of the compartment as I started to filter through my memories about what would be happening in the next hour, on the muggle side of the platform Harry Potter would have his first run in with the Weasley brood, which was only a result of Molly Weasley blatantly tossing the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy aside as she openly talks about Platform nine and three quarters and muggles aloud for all to hear, in order to draw Harry's attention to them in an obvious set up so that him and Ronald would become friends later.

It wasn't obvious to me at first when I reviewed the first movie but when I watched the second I realised that something was off, the Weasleys were a pureblood family weren't they, they had no reason to take the muggle-born passage into platform nine and three quarters, not when their parents could just apparate them all here in a couple of jumps, or even do as I did and take the floo here, it was all that plus Molly's actions that had me convinced that it was all a set up on Dumbledore's orders in order to get Harry in with a family that was loyal to Dumbledore, given that Harry had been staying with his abusive muggle relatives he would cling to any and all love and affection gave to him no matter how small because of his upbringing all because of Dumbledore's manipulations.

And all that was just the start of Dumbledore's manipulations this year. When looking at things through realistic eyes its plain to see how the first year of Hogwarts was all just one big test for Harry. First the announcement during the welcoming feast announcing the third floor on the right-hand side out of bounds to draw Harry's and everyone's attention to it to start the Hogwarts rumour mill running, and then the year spent gathering clues which a certain loose-lipped half giant just keeps dropping. All so the three of them could get past the traps if you can even call them that. That's meant to keep the dark lord from getting his hands on the philosopher stone, what an absolute joke.

I had spent a day doing research in the black library on their so-called traps as I knew what they were before hand and I was not impressed with Dumbledore's actions, and the number of safety violations he's committing in this year alone.

The first trap, Fluffy, the Cerberus, is a class five dangerous beast, and he puts it behind a door that can be open by a simple first-year charm in a school full of children? And his only preventative measure is him at the beginning of the year saying for them not to go near the corridor?

Then the second trap, Devil snare, no strike that, a Giant Devil snare, a plant that strangled people to death, dangerous for people like Ron Weasley who don't pay attention in class and know how to get out of it, which it just so happens is a topic taught to first years, one hell of a coincidence that don't you think.

Then the next two traps the keys and the chest set are both blatantly obvious about who they are targeted too, Harry being the youngest seeker in a century and then Ron and his passion for chest about the only bloody thing the idiot is good for.

Then if you follow the books over the movies there's the troll which Quirrell dispatches and the potions riddle to get through the enchanted fire to the final test and this is what really gets me, the mirror of Erised, how the hell did Dumbledore think that taking that mirror into a school of children and leaving it in an unguarded classroom was a good idea. Everything I've read about the mirror screams dangerous, the thing is enchanted to compel people to look into it and when you do you don't ever want to look away. I suspect that the only reason Harry was able to was because of Dumbledore messing with it in order to change the enchantment such as to protect the philosopher stone. The mirror would have trapped him otherwise, and like Dumbledore even said, people have wasted away in front of it, yet he puts it in a castle full of children.

Taking all that into mind I'm of a firm believe that the title Harry Potter and the philosopher stone should be changed to Harry Potter and the school full of death traps that don't work. Because while all those things are dangerous, there is no way in hell that they would stop someone of significant power like Voldemort, I mean come on, Quirrell made it right to the very end, Dumbledore was out of the castle and if Harry hadn't turned up given enough time Voldemort would have figured out how to get the stone and then he would have returned four years earlier and Harry would have been as good as dead.

My own plans for the year were somewhat, proactive, given that my goal was to pilfer the stone myself. I had already devised a number of ways that Quirrell or any death eater could have gotten through those traps with the smallest of efforts, I figured I'd give it until I knew that the stone was in the mirror and then make my move to get it myself.

I have my own reasons for wanting the stone. If the stone turned out to be the real deal that is. I figured that the odds were about fifty-fifty in my favour that the stone was the real thing. It could have been a fake for a number of reasons. Flamel tricking Dumbledore and gave him a fake stone is the first reason that comes to mind. Mainly because I don't think the man would be dumb enough to just hand over his key to immortality to anyone just like that.

Another could be that Dumbledore made a fake copy of the stone himself to use as bate while he keeps the real one safe in his office, where he could try to find out its secrets and make his own, or just so that the real stone was never in danger and thus Voldemort never had a chance that way of actually coming back.

I just wanted to see for myself if the stone was the real thing, and see if my plans on how to get it worked, and if along the way the stone did turn out to be the real thing and not a fake… well, that was just the icing on the cake knowing that when I had it and Dumbledore tried to retrieve it he would be unable to do so. He'd likely be pulling his hair out trying to figure out why he couldn't retrieve the stone, and then he would have to tell his friend that he had lost the stone that he had so graciously leant him for his plans. Oh, what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

Some might call it underhanded that I would steal the stone but the way I look at it, it's Flamel's own fault if the stone turns out to be the real deal, he shouldn't have so foolishly leant it to the old manipulator in the first place. He created it anyway, if he wants another he can just make it himself and hopefully be a little more careful with the second one.

I sat back in my seat putting my feet up on the other side and leaning back to get comfortable as I waited for the train to leave as the time approached. Originally I had pondered the idea about going in search for Harry on the train, but I decided against that after a few minutes of thought, given my name things would only turn out poorly the second Weasley turned up, and to be honest I don't want anything to do with that jealous git.

Plus my interference at such an early stage could mess things up in the time line, not that it already hasn't I know for a fact in four or five years' time I'm going to have a headache on my hands when the order of the phoenix is brought back when Black manor was meant to be the meeting place for the order after Sirius offered it as such, now I have no idea where they will try and base the order so things will be thrown for a loop when we reach that point.

Not that it matters much, really what did the order of the fried chicken, really do when Voldemort came back the second time other than play bodyguards for Harry when he was out of Hogwarts, that was it. They were, on a whole, useless.

But if I had to place a bet where they would set up their new base, if it wasn't at Grimmauld place it would be at Hogwarts. Mainly to do with what I had previously read in Hogwarts a history, seeing as I read the thing twice over in the month beforehand, I knew everything that it had about the ancient castle.

The first thing being was that Hogwarts was a sovereign land to itself, the ground on which the castle stood as well as the town of Hogsmeade rested on was all separate from the ministries control. It has been that way since the founders founded Hogwarts over a thousand years ago so that no ministry or government body could interfere or influence what was being taught there.

And in order to protect the castle and its occupant's powerful wards were erected over the castle to defend against attacks and monitor the inner workings of the castle, which the founders used to watch over the castle while they ruled it and the surrounding land as its lords and ladies.

But as time passed so did the control, the board of governors was created to take over from the founders to manage the welfare of the school, and the appointed headmaster was given control of the wards which were extensive. The first one the book mentioned was the unforgivable detection ward, that notified the headmaster whenever an unforgivable curse was used in the school, next was the dark magic and dark objects detection wards that scanned everything that was brought into the school, if any such items were brought in through the wards the headmaster was notified and it was up to him on how to deal with such items.

It wasn't hard for me to figure out that Dumbledore was seriously abusing the wards in order to allow all the things that were going on this year to happen, the wards would go nuts when the Cerberus and the Mirror was brought into the school, on top of that there was no way the wards didn't warn him about Quirrell being possessed the old man knows and does nothing about it.

He is allowing it all to happen because he wanted it to happen for his "greater good", and I now know to be wary if I hear him say that because I figure it means one of three things. That someone is about to get shafted, someone has been shafted or someone is in the process of being shafted.

I rubbed my brow as I felt the train pull off from the station and sighed. I was about to be put into the school run by this manipulative bastard with a beacon on my head that was my heirship of the house of Black because to his knowledge I had no guardians of any kind, I was just another pawn for him to use. I grinned, we would see about that that old fart is about to find out that not all his students are pawns for his amusements.

* * *

 **Scene break**

The train ride was underway for about five minutes when there was a knock at my door, I turned my head to see the door being opened and two girls standing outside it, both in witches robes with trunks at their sides.

I blinked at them and I found it very odd that I didn't immediately recognise them, I realised that they must have been lesser known characters in the books. Not everyone made an appearance in the movies.

"Sorry but do you mind if we sit here?" the first girl asked, she was a blond with long silky smooth hair that ran down past her shoulders for a couple of inches, she had a near perfect complexion, a round face and blue eyes.

I shook my head, "Not at all, please take a seat," I said as I gestured to the empty seats in the compartment.

Both girls nodded and as the first girl came in I got a better look at the second, unlike her blond friend the second girl was a brunet with hair the same length as the first but only with some curves near its ends, and she had small freckles on her slightly rounded cheeks and brown eyes.

Both came in pulling their trunks behind them, and I noticed the initials on both of them, the blonds had a DG on its side and the brunets had a TD. I thought it over in my head and I couldn't place the initials with any girls off the top of my head but quickly came back to the present when I saw them both start to help each other to lift their trunks up to the above head storage, struggling slightly.

I smiled, "Here, let me help" I offered as both girls looked to me as I pulled my wand from my sleeve and with another swish and flick both trunks lifted up off the ground and slotted into place above them.

Both girls turned from watching their trunks float into place to me both with looks of shock and wonder.

"How did you do that?" the blond asked her eyes wide, "I didn't even hear you speak?"

I smiled, "Practice," I responded, "My grandparents, they have me practising each spell on the curriculum weeks in advance and them take it to the next level with is silent casting, takes ages to get it right, but it's worth it to see the looks I get." I grinned.

Both girls were still looking at me in awe for a couple of seconds before the brunet was the first to snap out of it apparently and speak.

"Well that's pretty cool," she said as she smiled at me, "I'm Tracey Davis, pleased to meet you."

Tracey's apparent introduction managed to shake the blond from her shock as well and I saw her cheeks pinked in embarrassment before she spoke, "Oh, of course, I've completely forgotten myself," she said before curtsying to me slightly, "Daphne Greengrass, my apologies for not introducing myself sooner, but I was a little… side-tracked" she said as her cheeks pinked again.

Hearing their names my mind went into overdrive to pull together all I knew about both these two girls, both were sorted into Slytherin house at Hogwarts, Daphne was a pureblood heiress to the house of Greengrass, and had a younger sister who was a year or so younger, while Tracey was a half-blood born to a noble family, if I remember correctly Daphne's younger sister is to marry Draco Malfoy, hmm neither play much part in the actual movies, the largest thing about them is Daphne being a part of Pansy Parkinson's little cliché.

I broke out of my thoughts a moment after seeing both looking at me… oh, right I was meant to introduce myself… eh, what the heck it will be out in a couple hours anyway might as well have a little fun.

I smiled and nodded my head to them, "A pleasure to meet such fine ladies, Magnus Black, heir apparent to the ancient and most noble house of black, at your service," I said giving them both a smile.

Both girls looked like they were trying to catch flies with their open mouths as they dropped to their seats at my introduction, I smirked and waited for them to snap out of it again, it was a little amusing seeing their shock.

This time Daphne was the first to come around first, "Are you really from the house of Black? I thought there was none left" she said sounding shocked.

I gave an amused chuckle, "Well I had better be, I've been living in Black manor for a month non-sense I was told by the goblins about my heritage and they gave me this fancy ring." I said as I held up my hand as my heir ring appeared, "From what they told me I have to be heir Black to wear it."

I got another set of gasps from both of them when they saw my heir ring and I smirked, this was too much fun. After a couple of seconds, I watched as Daphne tried to school her features but my statements had clearly shocked her, Tracey, on the other hand, was just shocked.

"But how, everyone thought that the next heir to house Black was going to be a child born from one of the houses with Black blood in it, like the Malfoys?" Tracey stated.

I shrugged, "it likely would have been until I was found. I was born out of wedlock and left at an orphanage when both my parents died, I only just got tested a month back and here I am, my father was the last heir before he died, that means I'm next in line for succession." I explained

Daphne nodded her head to my words, "Well I'd watch my back if I were you, you're appearance is definitely going to rub a number of people the wrong way, because they thought they were in line for the Black lordship. With you coming out of nowhere, you're going to have people out for your blood, or trying to discredit you in the least." She said seriously.

I shrugged, "I guessed as much. My grandparents told me that I might piss some people off, but I think I'm ready should they try anything." I explained.

Tracey blinked, "hey wait a minute, what do you mean by grandparents, all the other blacks are either cast out of the family or dead, the last lord Black died twelve years ago and Lady Black died six years ago" she stated.

I chuckled, "I mean their portraits in Black manor, I've had them giving me lessons the past month while I also crammed my Hogwarts books, I've been learning as much as I can about the wizarding world while taking lessons from them on how to be a proper heir, the lessons are never-ending" I said with shrug.

That got a giggle from Tracey and a smirk from Daphne at my final comment.

"Welcome to the life of being a pureblood heir" Daphne commented with her smirk.

"Yeah we've been having those lessons since we were six, about how to act and show ourselves in public, and be the perfect little daughters and heiress to our houses" Tracey added with a little pose before giggling which got Daphne going as well.

"Yeah, I don't even want to think what it would be like trying to cram all that into a month, right before starting Hogwarts too" Daphne stated giving me a pitiful look.

I shrugged, "well grandmother says I'm coming along well in most of my practical's, but that I still have a long way to go yet, while I've barely scratched the surface with grandfather, he says I have a lot more to learn about the laws and politics" I explained, "but I've covered the basics so far at least."

I watched as both girls exchanged glances before nodding, "well we could probably help you out with it," Tracey offered.

"That's if we end up in the same house that is." Daphne added, "Otherwise our efforts could be strained."

I nodded and decided to bite the bullet, "So what house do you think you two will be sorted into?" I asked with a knowing smirk.

Both girls smirked at my statement, Daphne crossed her arms with a smile, "well my father was a Slytherin, and my mother was a Ravenclaw, so either is an option for me. But I suspect I'll be in Slytherin, it's the house of the cunning, sly and ambitious after all."

Tracey nodded smiling, "My mother was a Hufflepuff and my father a Slytherin so either house is an option for me. But both my parents want me to be in Slytherin, though I suspect they wouldn't mind if I was in Ravenclaw, anything as long as I'm not in Gryffindor." she said with a shudder mentioning the house of the brave. Or the foolish in my opinion.

Daphne gave me a look, "what about you Black? What house do you think you'll be in?" She asked as both girls looked at me anxiously.

I chuckled, "Well my grandparent's portraits both tell me I should be in Slytherin. As that has been where members of the house of Black have been predominantly over the years, aside from a couple in other houses, such as my uncle Sirius who was in Gryffindor. Though he was disowned before he left Hogwarts so I don't think he counts." I mused, "But I'm not sure that I can fall under that banner, after all, I wasn't born and raised a Black. I wasn't raised in the wizarding world with its traditions and beliefs. I've only been learning about most of them over the past month, so ladling me as a traditional Black is a little early."

Both girls were looking at me with curious looks as I continued talking, Daphne raised her eyebrow, "So if you're not a "traditional Black" then what are you?"

I shrugged, "I'm me. If I'm being honest I think I have traits from all the houses, but I don't think either Hufflepuff or Gryffindor is for me. I'm not blindly loyal like the puffs or thick headed like the house of the lions are. I follow my head and I have my own goals. I think before I charge ahead wand drawn and I use the information I have to my advantage."

Daphne smirked, "Oh you're a Slytherin no doubt." She said confidently, "Just listen to you, "using information to your advantage", and "having your own goals"." She added, "If you're not a Slytherin then you've got to be a Ravenclaw then, with all the thinking you've put into this."

I chuckled, "Maybe, I think you're right about me being a Slytherin, I'm a bit too ambitious for my own good, but while I am I don't think I'll be placed there, it just doesn't seem right."

Tracey raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean doesn't feel right?" she asked as both she and Daphne looked at me like I had grown a second head.

I smirked, "think about it, Slytherin favours the Cunning and the Sly as well as those who have ambition." I said simply, "while it may seem obvious that's why people who value those traits would be placed there, it puts them at a disadvantage. Why would someone who is cunning and sly want to be placed in a house that labels them so?"

Both girls looked at me wide-eyed at my statement and I grinned. I had actually been thinking about this fact for the past two weeks. I had been trying to think about just where I should be placed, I had come to this conclusion after the first five days of thinking things through. I knew just where I wanted to end up that would prove to give me the best advantages, and that was just where I was heading.

Daphne seemed to be in thought for a minute or so and nodded, "It's a strange way of looking at it I suppose. It would put people at a disadvantage if they wanted to do anything that required them to be cunning or sly about it. Because people would already expect them to do just that." She said and sneered slightly, "But looking at it that way. Every past generation Slytherin would have made the same mistake by being put into the house of the snakes."

Tracey snorted a giggle, "My dad would hex you into the middle of the next week if you said that to him. He's very pro-Slytherin. I'd love to see his face if someone pointed out that it wasn't very Slytherin of him to be placed in Slytherin."

I chuckled and looked out the window watching the countryside move by. "I'd imagine so." I said with a smirk, "Hey, how long is the journey to Hogwarts meant to take?" I asked. Not really remembering to check the times.

Daphne smirked, "it's a seven-hour trip. We'll arrive at Hogsmeade station just after six in the evening. From there it's on to Hogwarts."

I nod, "that's a long trip. Here's hoping it's a peaceful one" I mused.

Tracey looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Why wouldn't it be? Are you expecting trouble?"

I smirked, "No but you never know what's going to happen." I said as I continued to look out the window.

* * *

 **Scene break- third person POV**

The next six hours of the trip on the train proved to be quiet, the three remained in the compartment chatting ideally between each other and discussing things they'd learned from their Hogwarts books ahead of time. The lights in the compartment had just come on when the door opened from the outside.

Magnus looked from the window to the door to see who it was and internally groaned before turning his attention back outside after seeing who it was.

Draco Malfoy along with his two shadows, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, stood at the door as Draco arrogantly walked in glancing around and completely ignoring Magnus as his eyes went to the two girls and he smiled cockily.

"Ah, so this is where you've been. I was hoping I'd find you, Greengrass," Draco stated as he gave her a smirk.

Daphne rolled her eyes and Tracey gave a snort, "That's odd because we were hoping to avoid you, Malfoy." She stated with annoyance.

But before Draco could utter his response that Magnus could see he was about to Daphne spoke, "What do you want Malfoy?" she asked with no small amount of venom in her tone, something that Malfoy clearly missed or didn't care about.

"I wanted to discuss house business with you. A matter that my father has been trying to breach with yours for some time but he has been rebuffed on every advance on the matter." Draco responded with his best humble tone, which only came off as arrogant. "I was hoping we could discuss it and you could raise it with your father the next time you see him."

Daphne narrowed her eyes, and from what Magnus could see she wanted to give a rather crude retort, one that didn't need any words and only a single finger as a gesture to give it, but she took a breath and rolled her eyes, "Matters of the Lord of the houses do not concern the heirs and heiresses Malfoy. If this was a matter for us to discuss or become involved in then my father would have told me about it and that I was free to discuss it with you, as I have not been told as such I will not breach the matter with you."

But her brush off didn't seem to deter Malfoy, "But if the matter is concerning our future and the futures of our houses. Surely we should discuss possible outcomes and make plans, we both have our father's ears after all."

Daphne's eyes hardened at that statement as did her tone as she spoke, "I already know the matter of which you speak Malfoy. My father has already informed me of your fathers advanced on the subject, but my father has closed the matter entirely each time he was pushed on this topic. With that in mind, it is clear that the matter you wish to discuss the future off has no future and never will as far as my father and I am concerned." She stated with a glare, "Now if that is all I will ask that you leave me in peace to enjoy the remainder of my trip without your presence ruining it."

When the obvious rejection finally registered with Malfoy he scowled and looked as though he was about to press the matter, when Magnus finally spoke.

"I do believe the lady asked you to leave," Magnus spoke causing Malfoy to finally look at him. While he continued to look out the window at the passing scenery, "No one in this compartment wishes for your presence. You entered uninvited and without introducing yourself, and then you proceeded to harass these two lovely ladies here, both of whom clearly want nothing to do with you, if you do not wish to listen to them perhaps you will to me." Magnus said as he turned from the window and looked right at Malfoy, "Get out."

Malfoy clenched his fists at Magnus's statement and he steps forward, "How dare you talk to me like that, know who you're talking to before you speak, I am Draco Lucius Malfoy, heir to the magical house of Malfoy, but then I wouldn't expect some filthy Mud blood to know anything about addressing your betters." He stated in clear disgust as he looked at Magnus, not taking in the fact that he wore fine robes nor the fact that how whole little speech had affected him in the slightest.

Both Tracey and Daphne just scowled at Draco, while Magnus just smirked.

"Oh goodie," Magnus stated as he started to stand, "I was hoping that someone would try to pick a fight" he stated plainly. While inside he was jumping for joy, he was going to enjoy this.

The others watched as Magnus stood, but their eyes slowly widened as he suddenly stood much taller than they thought he would be, as he stood up to his full height he practically towered over Draco by five inches as he looked down at the blond with an unimpressed look.

Malfoy for his part did his best not to let the fact that Magnus was much taller than him bother him, given that he had both Crabbe and Goyle behind him that was easy to do, but what little was left of his bravado quickly faded as he and the taller Magnus met eyes and Malfoy stared into a pair of red eyes that were practically glowing. Malfoy almost pissed himself when Magnus spoke.

"It is you who should know who you're talking to before you run your mouth," Magnus stated as his eyes pulsed, "For I can assure you that I am no mundane born wizard," he said as he held up his hand with his heir ring visible.

Malfoy's eyes went to his hand and his eyes widened in shock as he saw the house of Black heir ring and he felt his throat run dry as Magnus continued to speak.

"I am Magnus Roark Black, Son of Regulus Arcturus Black, heir apparent to the most ancient and most noble house of Black and the next Lord Black," Magnus stated as his look turned to a glare as he looked down on Malfoy as he watched the smaller boy look on him with some fear while both Crabbe and Goyle gulped slightly at his words, "It is you who should know how to address your betters. As my passion as heir of an ancient and most noble house outranks an heir to a house that is simply magical."

Malfoy finally seethed as he spoke, "You're lying! You can't be the heir to the house of Black, my father told me I'm the next to inherit the Black lordship through my mother's side of the family, I am the next Lord Black!"

Magnus scoffed at that statement, "Oh yes, I'm well aware of your mother. Narcissa Malfoy Nee Black is my cousin once removed after all. My grandparent's portraits told me all about her. As well as your claim to the Black lordship." He said with an amused undertone, "But I'm afraid your claim falls moot with me in the picture cousin. I am a son of a son of the house of Black, and a direct descendant of the last Lord Black. That makes me the heir, and not you."

Malfoy started to shake his head, "No that can't be true." He said in denial about what he was hearing.

Daphne snorted, "It obviously is," she stated getting Draco's attention again, "he couldn't wear the ring otherwise, I'm sure the house of Black's heir ring has defensive measures just like any other heir or lord ring that prevent any but the true heirs or lords from putting them on, the ring is proof of his claim being true regardless what you say." She said finding the whole scene of Magnus shoving Malfoys own words down his throat to be very entertaining.

Malfoy looked ready to lose it at Daphne as he glared at her and was about to start yelling when Magnus stepped in front of him again, his eyes still pulsing red.

"Now I am not going to tell you again, get out now, or I will make you." Magnus stated as he channelled his magic into his next words like he had a couple of weeks ago making them boom making Malfoy practically jump backwards with fright right out of the apartment.

Now outside Malfoy gulped but pointed at Magnus before snarling, "You are going to regret this, that ring is mine and I will have it when my father hears about this."

Magnus smirked as his eyes pulsed again not even needing to say anything before both Malfoy and his two goons legged it as Magnus grinned and shut the door with a push.

No sooner had the door closed Magnus sighed, "Finally, I thought that idiot would never leave" he said as he turned back to his seat as he visible started to get smaller dropping five inches from his height and his eyes returned to his normal grey colour.

Both girls watched on in shock seeing him shrink like he did, but Daphne was the first to speak, "You're a Metamorphmagus, that's how you did all that, with your height and eyes" she said as she put it together.

Magnus nodded, "Yeah, but I'm only a partial one. I can only do small changes. Nothing major, hair, height, eyes, weight, and some minor appearance modifications are about the height of what I can do. But when used at the right time even subtle things like that can make an impression."

Tracey scoffed, "You can say that again, I thought you were about to tear Malfoys head off him there at the end when your voice boomed like that, Malfoy wasn't the only one who jumped a little."

Magnus smirked, "Na I wouldn't do that, the blond ponce isn't worth the trouble of a fight. He's just an annoying prat who needs to learn his place. Though I doubt he will judging by what he said about going to his father. I bet that will be a constant thing with him. Idiot doesn't have enough courage or wit about him to sort his only problems so he goes running to his old man. What a joke."

Both girls giggled at that. "Yeah I wouldn't be surprised if that turns into a regular thing," Tracey smirked

"I just pity you for being related to him," Daphne said as she tried to stop her own giggling.

Magnus groaned as he sat back and put his feet up, "Ugh. Don't remind me. If it wasn't for the fact that the blond idiot would get the heirship I'd give it up and deny all relations to him." He said in an over the top fashion.

Tracy giggled but Daphne gave a glare at him, "hey lay off the blond comments, I am one in case you haven't noticed." She said with a small amount of irritation in her voice.

Magnus held up his hands chuckling, "okay, okay, sorry." He said half-heartedly, "How about we call him the platinum idiot instead?" he suggested with a grin.

Daphne blinked, "platinum idiot?" she asked not getting the reference but looked at Tracey when she started giggling even more, "What's so funny?" she asked.

Tracey finally started to calm down enough to explain after a minute or two, "it's a muggle thing, to say something is platinum, is another way of saying something is first class. It's to do with platinum music records, when a song gets really popular they say it's platinum. It's also funny because Malfoy's hair is practically the same colour as platinum." She giggled.

Magnus grinned, "Yep so it's even more true, that Malfoy is a platinum idiot"

Daphne finally got it and giggled, "Yep that could work." She said with a smile, "Though aren't you worried about what Malfoy's father will do when he finds out about you."

Tracey nodded, "Yeah with you taking the heirship to house Black, out of his son's hands, you've just set house Malfoy back about four generations and ruined all of his father's plans"

Magnus looked at Tracey with a raised eyebrow, "what are you talking about?"

Daphne shook her head, "She's likely referring to the status of house Malfoy as just a magical house, and that Lord Malfoy was more than likely planning to use house Blacks influence once Draco became its lords to see house Malfoy rise from being just a magical house to being a most ancient and magical house. Thereby drastically increasing the houses political power within the Wizengamot. And with both house Malfoy and house black voting on the same bills it would be like house Malfoy having twice the voting power of any other singular house. Which would make Lord Malfoy a large voting power in sessions and allow him to carry more sway on what laws get passed." She explained slowly but then smirked, "But now with the Black lordship now blocked, house Malfoy will have to wait for another four generations before they can even try to increase their houses voting power on their own. Especially considering Lord Malfoy's imperious defence for his actions in the war. That was the only reason he had been able to retain his houses voting rights. But since then he's been blocked from taking the proxy seat for the house of Black early when it became vacant five years ago. My father told me that Malfoy has been waiting patiently for that seat to see his house rise up. He's going to be all kinds of angry when he hears about you."

Magnus smirked, "Well this is news to me as I've been lying low somewhat, and I didn't hear about the house of Blacks seat on the Wizengamot being used as a power play, I don't even know who's meant to be holding its proxy. But I'm glad that house Malfoy doesn't have it because that would be a pain trying to get him out of it."

Tracey nods, "Yeah I doubt that Lord Malfoy would have given it up easily, and I doubt that he's going to give up on the seat even with your claim to the position as solid as it is. He'll likely try to have you stripped of your position in favour of his son."

Magnus shook his head, "He can try but he has no legs to stand on to do so. Firstly I'm a son of a son of the house of black, which trumps Draco being the son of a daughter of the house of black. Second I'm directly descended from the last lord, while Draco is once removed. And thirdly I'm two months older than Draco, I will come into my majority and subsequent emancipation before him."

Tracey looks at him puzzled, "If your claim is that solid then why does Malfoy think that his father can do anything to get him the Black heirship?"

Magnus smirked, "I think we've already established the reason why that is." He said sounding rather sagely as both girls looked at him waiting for the answer, Magnus grinned, "he's a platinum idiot."

Both girls burst out into another fit of giggles at the statement that couldn't be truer.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey all. Sorry for the delay in the posting as of late, things hit a bit of a snag, I made a modification to my origional story plan and then that change had an unforeseen rippiing effect through the chapters that I had planned, so I had to go back and replan out to adjust for the change, and then I got into thinking and made more changes, so things warped a bit and the nex thing you know time got away from me, so appologies for that, but it's good to see that my views are still growing even between posts, thank you for your support so far, please make sure to drop a review and let me know what you think of this chapter, its the long awaited sorting feast so I know people are going to have varried oppinions on my decisions in this one, enjoy**

* * *

 **Chapter Five - The Sorting Feast**

Arriving on time the red steam engine that was the Hogwarts Express pulled into Hogsmeade station, and a few moments later the doors on the outside of the carriages opened and older students started to step out and onto the platform.

Magnus, followed by Daphne and Tracey, stepped out of their carriage into the cold air of the night all dressed in their Hogwarts uniforms. Like some Magnus's uniform was noticeably different to others, not the style but the materials. At a casual glance one could tell it was of a higher material than most others, and while some wore robes that were too big for them Magnus's fit him perfectly.

Looking around Magnus was instantly grateful for his choices when purchasing his uniform, as it was well worth the extra galleons for the finer materials and the charm work he had requested from the offered listings.

His entire uniform was made from acromantula silk, and his shoes were dragon skin. All of his clothing currently was charmed to be water and dirt repellent, self-repairing and was magically fitting. While his robe had the extra added enchantment of a warming and cooling charms set to keep his temperature regulated so he didn't get too hot or too cold at any time.

No sooner were they on the platform they heard a booming voice ahead of them at the end of the platform, "First years this way, come on now first years don't be shy!"

They all turned to see the massive figure of Hagrid standing at with a lantern in his hand not that he needed it to get their attention given how large the man was.

Moving as instructed the first year students started toward the large half-giant and looking ahead of them Magnus could make out the messy black head of hair next to a messy ginger one and smirked realizing who it was as they started to move off the platform with the rest of the first years as the other years started to move off in a different direction.

It wasn't long before they made it to the docks on the shores of the Black Lake and Hagrid turned to face the first years again, "alright no more than four to a boat, come on now" he instructed and the students started to obey.

Magnus got into one of the boats and sat down rather carefully, this practice had always made him cringe when he thought about it. Taking the entire group of first years to the castle on small boats pulled by the giant squid of the black lake may initially seem like a good idea, but to Magnus it was just an accident waiting to happen, putting young children into boats and putting them out on an open body of water with no means of keeping them from accidentally falling overboard, yeah love to meet the guy who came up with that idea.

As Magnus was mentally rolling his eyes at the first year tradition both Daphne and Tracey had gotten into the boat and taken the seats behind him, that was when a voice broke Magnus out of his thought that Magnus recognised.

"Um do you mind if I sit here?" asked a female voice.

Magnus's head turned and looked up and it was only thanks to his occlumency training that he kept his shock from showing on his face. On the dock looking at him was the young bushy haired girl that all Harry Potter fans knew, Hermione Granger.

Magnus quickly caught himself on before he stalled to long, "Sure, go ahead Miss?" He offered and asked with a kind smile.

Hermione smiled as she sat down next to him, "Oh sorry, I'm Hermione Granger" she said with a smile.

Magnus nodded, "A pleasure to meet you miss Granger, my name's Magnus Black," he said with a smile before gesturing to the two behind them, "and these two lovely ladies are Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis." he said as he introduced them, both girls nodded to Hermione as Magnus introduced them.

Hermione nodded back with a smile before looking go, Magnus, "Black? You aren't related to one of the previous Hogwarts headmasters are you, I read about someone called Black in Hogwarts: A history?"

Magnus gave a small chuckle, "Yes the same, though I'm not sure how far back I was related to him. I do know he was a Black though there's a painting of him in my family's manor." he told her before mentally smirking ' _or there was'_.

Before any more questions could be asked Hagrid's voice boomed once again at the front of the peer, "Alright then, forward!" and with a jerk, the boats all started to move forward and out onto the lake.

The illusion of the boats moving on their own had many of the first years in awe as they looked around in shock, you could tell the muggle-borns from the purebloods who weren't doing so as they were pulled out of the cove the dock was in and out onto the open water of the Black Lake and that was when they saw it.

Hogwarts castle was certainly a lot bigger than Magnus had imagined as it stood looming out over the lake, its torches burning bright as beacons for all to see.

"Wow, it's bigger than I thought," Magnus voiced unintentionally in his awe as the three girls around him nodded in agreement as they continued on their lap of the castle. It wasn't long before they beached the boats on the shore just thirty or so yards from the large castle doors and the students started to climb out of the boats and followed Hagrid to the huge doors of the castle which he easily opened.

"Alright in ya's go this way now," Hagrid said as he stepped to the side and all the first years started into the castle as they looked around with awe as they ascended the steps ahead of them and continued up them until they came to the top where Professor McGonagall was waiting for them.

Magnus kept to the side of the large group of first years as McGonagall looked them over and glanced at him for a second longer than he felt she should have and that was when he realized and started to mentally berate himself, his hair, it was still the length that he had changed it too with his Metamorphmagus skills. She had seen him less than a month ago with much shorter hair, of course, she was going to find it strange.

After looking over the students McGonagall began her speech with Magnus tuned out of somewhat while he knew that the houses were a key part of Hogwarts and its history the idea of sorting children at a young impressionable age had always been something that made him pause for thought on whether this was a good idea or not. While on one hand, he liked the idea of the houses as they promoted individual ideals, there was also what they had become, labels for each student that would stick with them for the rest of their lives, not something you should force on children.

But once again Magnus was pulled from his thoughts with a cry or "Trevor!", and his head turned to see the rather clumsy form of the boy he knew to be Neville Longbottom make his way through the crowd to collect the large toad on the steps just before Professor McGonagall's feet.

Magnus suppressed a smirk and rolled his eyes, he had always wondered when he watched this scene how Trevor had made it all the way to Hogwarts if he had been lost on the train, and it was only after watching the movies multiple times did the answer finally hit him like a slap in the face, Hogwarts house-elves.

Magnus watched as Neville muttered his apology and slipped back into the crowd of students as McGonagall righted herself after being interrupted.

"The sorting ceremony will begin momentarily" she finished before turning and leaving the first years standing on the stairs.

Magnus smirked knowing what was coming next, and sure enough, right on cue, the pompous voice of Draco rang out. "It's true then, what they're saying on the train. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts."

Magnus leaning against the railing listens as the conversation continues as he watched from the back as he hears the other first years start muttering in excitement.

"This is Crabbe and Goyle," Draco said as he introduced the two bookends behind him, "and I'm Malfoy...Draco Malfoy."

At that, a snort was heard and Magnus rolled his eyes knowing it was Ron's snort to keep from openly laughing and then he heard Malfoy's retort.

"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask yours. Red hair and a hand me down robe? You must be a Weasley." Draco spoke with an obvious glare at the redhead before looking back to Harry, "We'll soon find that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. Don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there" he stated as he held out his hand.

It was then Magnus's turn to openly snort getting eyes turned to him, "Oh please Draco. Stop embarrassing yourself. I know you're blond but surely you have a bit more tact than that." Magnus spoke getting snickers from the other first years and a punch in the shoulder from a glaring Daphne, but Magnus continued un-phased, "I mean who in their right mind would want to be friends with you, hell your family name is a warning to all, right bad faith?" he said as he cast a glance towards the blond who was practically red with rage.

Magnus rolled his eyes and stood up from leaning against the railing and took the last few steps up the stairs until he was at the front and turned his glare on Malfoy who had the wisdom to back off remembering their confrontation on the train.

With Malfoy subdued Magnus then turned his attention to the twin gazes of Harry and Ron who were looking at him with interest. Magnus smirked and held out his hand, "A pleasure to meet you Harry Potter, my name is Magnus Black." he said with a smile as he took in the response to his name from the other first years.

Whispers broke out again from all the first years just as much as when Harry had been identified, Ron who was beside Harry looked at Magnus his eyes wide obviously realising the connection. Harry didn't seem to mind at all and reached out his hand taking Magnus's and shaking it.

"Nice to meet you too," Harry said returning the smile.

Magnus nodded once as they finished the handshake just as the door behind them opened and Professor McGonagall came out. Magnus quickly slipped back into place as they were lead from the stairs through the grand doors and into the feasting hall.

As they walked in Magnus could already feel all the eyes on them from the four tables, as they were lead down the length of the hall. As they were Magnus could hear just a bit behind him Hermione talking about the ceiling above them how it was bewitched.

As they walked up through the hall Magnus let his gaze fall to the front of the hall as they walked, and it was then that Magnus first set eyes on the old man.

Dumbledore sat in the middle of the staff table in a large golden throne of a chair in the most oddly coloured robes Magnus had ever seen, his eyes twinkling as he watched down the hall as they approached.

It wasn't long before they were all grouped at the front of the hall just before the steps up to where the Sorting Hat was placed on the stool in front of the staff table.

"Now, before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to say a few words." Professor McGonagall stated before turning their attention to the staff table as the aged wizard rose from his seat.

Magnus's eyes narrowed on the old man knowing what he was about to say and mentally rolled his eyes at the man's tact, to any intelligent third party who would hear this most would question his intelligence unless they realized what his motives were behind his statement.

"I have a few start of term notices I wish to announce." Albus began, "The first years please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker, Mister Filch has asked me to remind you that the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death."

Magnus mentally scoffed, ' _Yeah right, if the forest is so forbidden for students then why were the golden trio, plus Malfoy, sent out there for detention with Hagrid, doesn't sound so forbidden to me. And telling children from the ages of eleven and up that somewhere is forbidden or out of bounds, that's basically saying "hey look kiddies adventure here, go have fun", but then again that is what that old bastard wants.'_ Magnus mentally raged to himself.

He watched on as Dumbledore sat down once more and everyone's eyes fell to the hat on the stool at the front as a ripping sound was heard as its eyes and mouth opened and soon the voice of the sorting hat filled the hall with it's song.

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

As the song came to an end all the tables started to clap and the first years joined in, though Magnus could hear some of them talking in disbelief many commenting on the test, Magnus could make out Ron's voice saying he'll kill his brothers and mentally scoffed remembering how apparently the twins had told their little brother how he would have to fight a troll to be sorted, and the little idiot believed them.

As the applause ended Professor McGonagall turned back to the first years with a rolled up parchment in hand and cleared her throat before speaking, "When I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses." The professor explained as she unrolled the parchment and called out the first name, "Hermione Granger."

Magnus watched on as Hermione walked out of the group and started up towards the steps. Behind him he heard Daphne give a snort, "she'll be in Ravenclaw. She couldn't stop talking about the books she's read." The blond stated smiling.

Magnus gave a single chuckle, "Don't be so sure," he said as they watched as McGonagall place the old tattered hat onto Hermione's head, though Magnus raised an eyebrow when he didn't hear a physical conversation between the girl and the hat like he had expected and a few moments later the hat's mouth opened and bellowed, "Gryffindor!"

The red table immediately burst into applause and cheers while the other tables clapped amicably as the hat was removed from Hermione's head and the young girl hopped off the stool and went to join the Gryffindor table.

Professor McGonagall smiled watching the girl go before she looked to the list again for the next name and Magnus and everyone else could see her eyes widen in what was obvious shock at what she had read and her eyes immediately went to Magnus as she spoke, "Magnus Black"

The simple saying of Magnus's name first brought complete and utter silence to the hall, before the whispering started in earnest, and Magnus could see the looks of shock many at the staff table had as well, none more so than Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape, both of whom looked on in shock as Magnus stepped out of the crowd and started up the steps.

Magnus watched the headmaster and potions professor as he started towards the stool. He could see that Dumbledore at least schooled his features after a couple of seconds, while Snape shock seemed to fade into a sneer, but Magnus knew better than to look into either of their eyes.

His occlumency training had taught him that a master of legitimacy did not need their wand nor an incantation to get into his head, he already suspected as much from fanfiction concepts, which stated that all they needed was to make eye contact with him and they could attempt to pull his memories. So there was no way he was looking either of them in the eyes and just in case he made sure to raise his occlumency shields to full strength to prevent any intrusions.

Reaching the stool Magnus turned and sat down on it and took a deep breath as he felt the hat being placed on his head and immediately he felt something, a presence inside his head followed by a voice that echoed in his head.

' _My-my, what do we have here? Aren't you an interesting one.'_ the voice of the sorting hat sounded.

Magnus frowned before mentally replying, ' _Hello hat, I take it you want me to lower my occlumency shields?'_ he stated plainly only to get a chuckling response.

' _Oh no dear boy, no need to do that, I'm already in your head. The founders enchanted me to be able to bypass any form of mental defences. So your barriers don't affect me in the slightest, though I must admit your defences are quite good for someone your age. Though not enough to keep the castles resident pair of Legillimens out of your head should they try and force their way, though it should buy you the couple seconds you need to break eye contact with them if you don't want them to find out your secrets'_ the hat stated.

Magnus mentally scowled hearing that and closed his eyes as he enters into his mindscape which he had done so many times before and opened his eyes again to find him standing in the library of his memories face to face with a floating sorting hat as Magnus mentally spoke. ' _You're in my head, but that means…'_

The hat shook the equivalent of its head in mid-air, ' _It means nothing dear boy. Your secrets are safe with me. The founders may have enchanted me to get by all mental defences but they also made it so that I cannot tell anyone about what I glance from a student's head nor have it pulled from my own, not even the headmaster can order me to do so, your secrets are still secret and will remain that way'_

Letting out a mental sigh of relief Magnus mentally nodded his head, ' _I see,'_ he said before looking at the hat with an interested look, ' _You don't seem surprised about my memories, could it be that you've seen people like me before?'_

The hat chuckled. ' _The same as you no, but like you in a sense. People who have been reincarnated, I have seen my fair share over the years, and though I won't tell you who they are I will say that none of them are as interesting as you are. You certainly have an interesting point of perspective involving the headmaster and certain individuals, a perspective that I and Hogwarts herself happen to agree with'_

Magnus blinked, ' _You do? …Wait what do you mean Hogwarts agrees with me? Do you mean the castle's…'_

The hat chuckled, ' _You've already worked it out. The castle is sentient, though this fact is only known to those who are connected to its wards. The castle-like myself was enchanted by the founders in order to better protect the students, although its capacity to do so has been greatly diminished over the years by each headmaster that have come and gone, and from what I can see from your memories, that isn't going to change.'_

Magnus blinked as he mulled over the thought of the castle being sentient and he realised that on some level it was possible if he thought about it, there had to be some level of understanding if the room of requirements existed, and apparently the castle agreed with him.

' _Okay, so what does that all mean?'_ Magnus asked still trying to wrap his head around the facts.

' _It means that you will have Hogwarts support should you need it, but such support will be limited given the restraints placed upon her by the headmaster. It is Hogwarts obligation to protect her charges. That is the duty the founders charged her with, but since Dumbledore has set foot inside her halls that job has become next to impossible. I can see you are aware of what is to occur over this school year, what the headmaster has set up on the third floor corridor. Hogwarts has protested against these to the headmaster but he has ignored all of her pleas to remove them for the student's safety, and she is restricted from doing anything without the consent or orders of the headmaster'_

Magnus frowned, ' _so even Hogwarts doesn't like the old man, can't say I blame her'_

' _Indeed, this castle was meant to be a place of learning but ever since Albus started here and gained favour with the previous headmaster that has changed drastically. I can see you also suspect this by your criticism of what is taught here at Hogwarts, and you are correct, all branches of magic are no longer taught within the castle's walls. This is due to two reasons, the ministerial condemning multiple forms of magic that they deem to be dark, now normally this wouldn't affect what classes Hogwarts has taught in the past as it is a sovereign nation and not restricted by ministry laws. But ever since Dumbledore has been both chief warlock of the Wizengamot, the body who made the decisions on magic, and Hogwarts headmaster. He has used this as an excuse to have the subject cut from Hogwarts curriculum and has done so to such an extent that it is what you see it today.'_

Magnus scowled at that revelation it was obvious to see what was happening, Dumbledore had been manipulating things to get what he wanted. He used his sway in the Wizengamot to get branches of magic ladled dark and then used his power as headmaster of Hogwarts to remove them from the curriculum. Doing so in such a way that no one would question why because it played to his persona as the leader of the light. But that only left one question, what was his real reason for doing so.

The hat laughed, ' _You are a clever one, seeing through his trickery and manipulations so quickly. Though when you think about it it's really not that difficult to see why. Albus has always had a god complex, you know the saying that knowledge is power. Well with magic that is more than just a saying, it is a fact, and by removing branches of magic from Hogwarts by having it declared dark, magic that he already knows. He is effectively limiting the knowledge of future generations and making himself more powerful in the process.'_

Magnus felt sick to his stomach, ' _So he is effectively sacrificing generations of students educations just to make himself seem more impressive? He's more twisted than I thought and I was thinking pretzel twisted. I wondered why there were so many more books in the Black library that I could recall seeing at Hogwarts, because the Black library hasn't effectively been castrated by the ministry with Dumbledore's permission and blessing.'_

' _Indeed,'_ the hat nodded once, ' _now, as much as I'd love to chat with you more about what other things the headmaster has done that is questionable over his many years, I do have my duty to perform, and I think I know just where to put you, someone with your cunning, sly and ambition would do well in Slytherin wouldn't you agree?'_

Magnus smirked, ' _True but it doesn't seem very Slytherin to be placed in Slytherin does it? Plus I think we both know you aren't going to put me there.'_

The hat chuckled, ' _Oh is that right, and why would I do that? You have all the traits of that house and regardless of your belief about how un-Slytherin it would be to be placed in Slytherin it is still my duty to sort you accordingly.'_

This time it was Magnus's turn to chuckle, ' _Simple, because you and I both know you don't sort students by their traits. You sort them by what they value the most. How else would you explain your sorting? Hermione in Gryffindor when she's clearly a Ravenclaw. Neville in Gryffindor when he's clearly a Hufflepuff. Harry in Gryffindor when with his upbringing he could easily be a Slytherin, Draco and his two book ends in Slytherin when they don't have an ounce of cunning or sly between the three of them'_ he listed.

All the time he was doing so the hat grinned and burst out laughing at the end, ' _ha-ha-ha, in over a thousand years none have ever realised what you have, they all believed the drivel I spouted about having the traits of the houses. You really are something. So then tell me where will I be placing you then?'_

Magnus smirked, ' _You already know, I value intelligence and those who employ it above others, using it to reach my own end, by those values I'm more Ravenclaw than Slytherin. Send me there.'_

The hat nodded, ' _Indeed, you will make a fine raven, you are not blinded by the labels that have been placed on magic by others, you seek the knowledge and the power that comes with it to better defend yourself and those who you see as your friends, a worthwhile goal. However I need not warn you to be wary of using some of those spells you have learned in the presence of more light-minded individuals, they may not take too kindly to them, and you don't need that much attention from the headmaster just yet, though I fear that you will be getting plenty so enough'_

Magnus nodded his head in agreement, he already knew that with his name being announced he would draw the old man's attention and he already had steps in place to deal with him.

* * *

 **While Magnus was being sorted**

Outside of Magnus's head time was ticking by as everyone watched patiently for different reasons, many at the staff table were watching with intrigue at the back of the young heir Black, Dumbledore was stroking his beard slightly as he mulled over this latest development as he wondered just where this boy had come from as he didn't recall seeing any Black on the enrolment form. Had he seen him he would have gone to investigate himself as there shouldn't be any other Blacks left, the house was all but extinct now with the last remaining Black locked up in Azkaban. So the question remained just where had the boy come from and how had he eluded his knowledge.

As Albus thought this over he tried to contemplate also just what this might mean for his plans, the appearance of an heir to the house of Black could possibly prove to be a problem if the boy was aware of his family and his heritage, which given how he was dressed in fine robes and the way he held himself left no doubt in Albus' mind he was. It meant that as heir Black he would be entitled to his seat in the Wizengamot when he reached his majority at seventeen, but Albus shook that thought from his mind, that was far in the future and as the boy was clearly an orphan he would have no guardian leaving such decisions in his own power. He could easily arrange for someone of the light to take up the voting power of house Black claiming he had consulted with the boy and no one would be the wiser, all the while giving more votes in his favour not that he needed it not with the Potter seat already under his thumb for the past ten years but it never hurt to have more voting power.

Then his thoughts turned back to his pawn and he couldn't help but feel a little giddy, he everything was falling into place perfectly when he saw young Harry enter the hall looking around him in awe, his plan to be the boys grandfatherly saviour from his poor childhood at the hands of his muggle relatives was coming along flawlessly. The boy was clueless about his heritage and he couldn't help but smile seeing his second pawn was by his side. He was delighted earlier when he received the floo call from Molly about their successfully meeting and helping young Harry through the barrier to the platform. Now with young Ronald by his side he would be able to monitor why young Harry has contact with, after all, it wouldn't help matters to have the boy learn about his heritage, it's not like he needed to know after all given that in order for Voldemort to die by Albus' hand in order to further his own plans young Harry would have to die first by Voldemort's.

At first, Albus had cursed the prophecy when he first heard it, how could a child be the destined one to defeat Voldemort and not him, Albus Dumbledore, it was unthinkable. It had just been sheer luck that Severus had overheard the start of the prophecy and had taken that knowledge to his master. Of course, had he heard the full prophecy he might have been reluctant to attack as he had, but because he hadn't it allowed Albus time to plan and use this to his advantage. Once he had identified the two possible children the damned prophecy could have related to it was only a matter of time to separate them from all possible help by sending them into hiding.

But of course Lily never made things easy, she was always a studious student and had voiced strongly with using the Fidelius Charm on the cottage in Godric's Hollow in order to further hide from Voldemort, and James had, of course, agreed with his wife. It was only the miracle that they made the foolish decision on their choice of secret keeper that made Albus' plan not come to a dead halt.

Of course, he'd know about Peter being a spy for the other side, he had been using this fact to feed them just the right amounts of information in hopes of drawing Voldemort out into the open for a confrontation. So he knew that the information on the Potter's whereabouts would get back to Voldemort, it was looking more and more like the Potter boy was the one the prophecy spoke of, and then the night finally came to pass and both James and Lily had been killed and Harry had survived by some ancient magics that Lily had found that Albus had never seen before, and to this day that still grated on his nerves.

After hearing of the attack Albus had been ready to give Sirius the speech about how it was best that Harry be put into hiding and to grow apart from the wizarding world because of his fame, but as it turned out the fool had gone and gotten himself arrested, and because of the deceit that he and the others had played in making the rest of the world believe he was the Potters secret keeper he was the prime suspect and with Barty Crouch Sr. and Minister Bagnold looking to sweep matters up quickly to put this whole mess behind them it was easy for him to "overlook" the fact that Sirius never received his trial, as well as keep quiet that he was not the secret keeper, after all, Albus was the one to cast the charm so he was the one who knew the truth, but it would serve his purposes better if Sirius was out of the picture for now. All it took was a simple memory charm before he was sent to Azkaban to make him forget who cast the Fidelius in the first place, then all that was left for him to do was make sure that the Potter will was never read, a simple matter for him as the Chief warlock of the Wizengamot, and like that he was able to claim guardianship of the child and have him put where he needed him in the less than tender care of his muggle relatives so that the rest of his plan could unfold just as he needed it to and as it had done so perfectly up till this point.

"Ravenclaw!"

The sudden declaration of the sorting had brought Albus out of his thoughts as he focused back on the young Black having just been sorted, and he frowned slightly such a sorting didn't fall within the usual for house Black, but then perhaps given the boy wasn't raised a Black there might be hope for him, while it wasn't Gryffindor the house he was sorted into was a far better sign had he been sorted into Slytherin. He would need to meet with the boy, if for anything other than to determine his validity of being an actual Black, and it wouldn't hurt to be seen meeting with him for when he named someone to fill the Black seat on the Wizengamot.

* * *

 **Magnus POV**

I came out of my mindscape to the cry of "Ravenclaw" from above my head and couldn't help but smirk. That had gone far better than I had planned, and far easier. As the hat was lifted from my head I hopped off the stool and made my way to the Ravenclaw table who were applauding as I came to join them.

I could see many of them wanted to ask me questions, most likely to do with my name and my status, but at least I could see that they were going to hold their questions until the feast or until we were in the common room. One thing about being in the house that values intelligence, everyone is likely to ask questions.

I made sure to sit with my back facing away from the head table as best I could, didn't want to give the old man or greasy git the chance to try some passive legitimacy on me, not that they would get past my shields but I didn't want to give them the opportunity and watched the rest of the sorting as best I could without letting my gaze drift up to the head table.

Everything was running smoothly so far and nothing had fallen out of place as of yet as I watched each student go to the sorting hat and get sorted as they should.

"Daphne Greengrass"…. "Ravenclaw!"

I blinked, ' _Wait what?'_ my head turned to see Daphne hopping off the stool with a pleased smile on her face as she made her way over to the Ravenclaw table it took a moment before I started to clap with the rest of the table, ' _that wasn't supposed to happen'_ I thought worried, ' _she's meant to be in Slytherin… did I cause her to be sorted here instead?'_

I could see her pleased smile as she sat down at the table opposite me, I could practically see her giggling at my shocked look and I shook my head, ' _okay as long as she's the only…'_

"Tracey Davis"…. "Ravenclaw"

' _Oh fuck me'_ I mentally groaned as I turned again to see Tracey hopping down from the stool as the hat was lifted from her head and smile all the way as she sat down next to Daphne both girls giving me grins and I suppress a groan, ' _great, I wonder how this will affect things'_ I mentally berated myself. Of course my talking to them could have caused this, I practically pointed out the facts that made them Slytherin made the house of Slytherin unsuitable for them, and out of the only three houses remaining, of course, they would choose Ravenclaw it, their Slytherin qualities would make them not even consider the house of the brave or the house that is seen as taking the leftovers, Ravenclaw was the only logical choice left out of the three. ' _I guess I can be grateful that I didn't mention the houses to Hermione or Harry when I spoke to them, last thing I needed was either of the golden trio not being in Gryffindor that could have seriously messed with how things are meant to go in the long run, guess I should be glad it was only these two that I had any real conversation with on the train'_

As the sorting ceremony finished and the hat and stool were carried off out the side door of the hall, I heard the chiming of the headmasters McGonagall's goblet as she tapped it to gain everyone's attention as the headmaster rose from his seat, everyone turned to look to him. I did my best to follow the crowd but kept my gaze firmly on his chest not looking at his face.

"Let the feast, begin" Dumbledore's voice carried through the hall and just like that all the food appeared on the tables.

I could hear the shock from all those around me at the magic that was performed, making it look as though Dumbledore had conjured everything. I smirked, it was a good trick I'll give him that but it just takes a little bit of thinking to realize the number of ways it could be performed. And the easiest answer was simple, house elves, his command to have the feast begin was the command for all the houses elves to place the food on the tables via house-elf magic, while it made it look like the old man was using wandless magic when it was really slight of hand.

I just rolled my eyes as I began to fill my plate and snorted seeing other students looking at the food still in some kind of shock. Daphne looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "What are you snorting at?"

I smirked, "Just the headmaster's little parlour trick," I mused as I took a couple of spoonfuls of mashed potatoes making sure to use my ring hand and letting the detection ring get close to any of the food to test for any potions, not that I suspected anything, but it always pays to be safe.

"What little parlour trick, he used wandless magic, I'd hardly call that little" I heard from my left.

I looked and smiled as I recognised who it was, Padma Patil, and I shook my head, "No that's only what it looked like," I stated as I subtly checked then poured some gravy.

I could see a number of older students giving me sceptical looks, while I could see Daphne trying to figure out what I meant and I smirked, "How many of you over here are purebloods?" I asked as I ate, and I could immediately see some start to look at me with narrowed eyes, I sighed, "no I don't mean it like that. I'm only asking because if you're a pureblood it should make more sense to you as to how he did it." I said as I poured myself a drink, "he didn't use his wand, nor did he utter any incantation, he spoke in English and gave a command…" I said as I saw others now start to think as well.

I smirked and sipped my water, I couldn't fathom how people could stand pumpkin juice. As I did so I gaze around and saw that still, it wasn't clicking for any of them, I finished drinking, "He gave a command and his servants obeyed, the Hogwarts house elves" I stated and I could see a number of eyes going wide at my statement, "Oh come now, how do you think the castle stays clean, or all this food was prepared, I hardly think the staff do it" I stated and I could see it click with Daphne.

"He had it all set up so when he spoke the food would appear, clever" Daphne commented.

I could see a couple of older students start to shake their head in disbelief and I smirked, I must have been the first one to put that together for them, guess the house of the smart isn't as smart as it thinks.

As I was eating another voice spoke, "Are you really a Black?", it was a male voice this time and I looked to see it was a blond boy my age who had been sorted a little while after.

"Yes, I am," I replied, "I'm sorry but I didn't catch your name?" I asked, I felt like I recognised him but I couldn't place him.

"Anthony Goldstein," the Boy replied to my question, "But aren't Blacks always in Slytherin?"

I shrugged, "Well Mr Goldstein. That may have been the case in the past with my ancestors, but I wasn't raised a Black so it makes sense that I wouldn't have the same values as most of them, and thus I wouldn't be sorted the same," I stated, but I could see that others were getting ready to ask questions now that the first one had been asked, 'I'd betted nip this in the bud now before the flood gates open', I thought before speaking, "Now I would thank everyone if they could keep such questions about myself and my family till we get to the dorm room, I don't know about the rest of you but I'm hungry after the train ride and I want to enjoy my dinner" I said and I could see others nodding in agreement as they started back to their meals and idle chatter with each other.

I continued to eat my meal keeping my eyes down and away from the staff table, to prevent any chance of a passive legilimency probe from either Dumbledore or Snape, both of whom I knew were likely both glancing at me or Harry. But right now they weren't the only problems in the room given what I knew was under Quirrell's turban.

Fact is I was a little nervous and it was only thanks to my occlumency training that I was appearing as calm as I was. I knew not to misjudge the dark lord just because he was a shade. He was still in possession of Quirrell, and I knew that the whole stuttering show was just an act, Quirrell was a threat and a dangerous one, one that I intended to keep an eye on.

* * *

 **Time Skip**

Eventually the feast wound down to a close and each of the groups of the first years were lead out of the great hall and started into the grand staircase, I followed along with Daphne, Tracey and the other Ravenclaw first years as we were led by a blond prefect which if I recalled correctly was Penelope Clearwater, Percy Weasley's girlfriend, that was if they had started dating already, I was never clear on when they did.

As we all walked I did my best to memorise the path, it would definitely take some time to get used to the castles huge layout, and then the absolute insanity of the changing stairs in the grand staircase.

It was another five minutes before we all began to come to a halt in front of a wall with a large door with a large bronze eagle knocker in its front and the prefect, Penelope turned to us.

"Here we are, now unlike the other houses who use regular single word passwords as their security, in Ravenclaw we have to answer a riddle to enter, a way to prove our intelligence, if you get it wrong you will have to wait for another to come along before you can come in as the riddle will only be asked once to each person and only they may answer," Penelope explained to us and there were a number of murmured responses to that from around myself.

"Now let's see what the riddle for this evening is then," Penelope said before she turned back to the bronze eagle as we all watched.

We all watched on as the eagle's eye opened and it flexed its neck as its head turned to Penelope before its bronze beak opened and it began to speak in a rather metallic voice. "You are in a room with no windows, doors or any exit. The only items are a mirror and a table. How do you escape?"

I smirked hearing that realizing the answer straight away but that smirk fell when I looked around and saw others looking confused, even Daphne and Tracey looked like they didn't get it, and Penelope looked deep in thought for a couple of moments before speaking, "Do I have my wand?"

The eagle knocker shook his head, "No"

Penelope sighed looking a little embarrassed to have gotten the puzzle wrong before she turned back to us, "anyone want to give it a try then?" she asked, no one immediately stepped forward, I sighed and did so.

I could feel everyone looking to me as the eagle head looked down at me before speaking again. "You are in a room with no windows, doors or any exit. The only items are a mirror and a table. How do you escape?"

I smirked, "You look in the mirror to see what you saw, you take the saw and cut the table in half, two halves make a whole then you climb through the hole!" I stated much to the murmured confusion behind me.

The eagle knocker knocked its head, "your logic is sound, you may enter" it spoke before it retook its original pose and the door clicked open and swung inward revealing a winding staircase leading up to the tower.

I turned back to my confused looking housemates and I smirked, "it was a word play riddle, words that sound the same but have different meanings" I said as I could see it started to dawn on some of them.

"Clever, Black," Penelope said looking at me with an impressed look before looking to the others, "alright this way, up we go," she said before leading us up the staircase.

It was only about two or three turns before we were filing out of the rather narrow stairway through another door that led out into a large dome-shaped common room, with four grand archers widows on the walls with two doorways leading to further stairs on the left and right of the room.

The walls were painted a pale white, and the dome ceiling had the night sky painted on it with a decorative bronze lining separating the ceiling from the walls.

A midnight blue carpet covered the main floor which had a number of tables and chairs and comfortable sofa set out with bookcases filled with a number of books on different subjects, and on the far side of the room was an archer inset with shelves of books inside and a statue of a woman upon it who looked rather beautiful and regal who I suspect was Rowena Ravenclaw.

a number of the older students were still up and about in the common room chatting as we entered and Penelope led us to the centre of the common room as we looked around.

Penelope turned to us all as we gathered before speaking, "This is the Ravenclaw common room, we are the only house to have our own library in our common room that is open to all for research purposes and classwork. A handy thing so you don't have to risk missing curfew at night, though please keep the books from here and the library separate, Madam Prince keeps the school library in order and she does not need extra work in bringing books back here that was put there by mistake, she gave quite the lecture on the fact last year when she had to do so on five separate occasions." she explained as we listened.

"The left passageway leads up to the dormitories for the boys and down for the lavatories, girl its the same on your right, unlike some of the other dormitories, you will each have separate rooms, your belongings have already been brought up from the train, so when you are heading to bed simply look to find the room with your trunk in it, the doors will all be open so if a door is closed it means the room is taken" She continued, "bed time is in half an hour for first years so I suggest you go looking for your rooms shortly, Professor Flitwick will be along to address you all shortly." she finished before turning and walking off to join the other older students leaving us to our thing.

As soon as she had stepped away the other first years all turned to me with inquisitive looks and I blinked before Daphne nudged me, "remember you said you'd take any questions about your family after the feast?" she reminded me and I inwardly sighed.

"Alright everyone, I'll take questions now, but only three, I have my law-wizard set to make a statement to the daily prophet this evening so tomorrow's prophet will have everything I'm willing to disclose about myself in it, so ask what you will now and read the rest tomorrow" I stated plainly.

"How can you be heir Black, isn't the last one locked up in Azkaban?" Asked of the first year boys.

"And you are?" I asked.

"Terry Boot" the brunet boy replied

"Well mister Boot, I was born out of wedlock, my father was Regulus Black, but he died before I got to meet him, same as my mother who died giving birth to me, I was raised in a muggle orphanage, and my house was only discovered when I took my inherency test at Gringotts and as per law took up my heir ring" I explained.

"How come we're only just hearing about you now then, wouldn't the prophet have reported that an heir had been found?" asked a girl this time.

"My discovery was kept a secret on the recommendation of my account manager for both political and financial reasons, given the amount of interest my sudden appearance would bring, steps needed to be taken to secure mine and house Blacks well-being and they have been, Miss?" I answered and asked.

"Lisa Turpin" the girl replied to my question.

I nodded back, "okay final question?" I asked looking around.

"what side do you fall?" asked Anthony, "The Blacks were notorious for supporting he-who-must-not-be-named in the war, but you said earlier you weren't raised a Black so you're views are different, are you for the light?"

You could practically hear a pin drop after he finished and I could feel all eyes were on me for my answer and I thought for a moment how to properly word my response before shrugging.

"While it's true that my family has been known to support the dark in the past, as I've already said I was not raised a Black, and while I am receiving lessons from my grandparents portraits on traditions and the wizarding world in general, I am keeping an open mind to all views at this moment in time, I'm still new to all of this and so I'm looking at everything with a more rational mind." I stated as I looked at each of them, "as of this moment I'm still taking in all the facts, so as far as I can say I am neither light nor dark, given that I've only been in the wizarding world for a month it's too early to tell, I need more information before I can decide. So, for now, I'm neutral, grey if you will. Until I have all the facts and I can make an informed decision on that fact." I finished as I could see some nodding in understanding to my reasoning.

A couple of seconds after I finished talking there was clapping coming from behind us and we all turned to see Professor Flitwick in the doorway looking cheerful.

"Well said, just what I'd expect from a true Ravenclaw, gathering all the facts before you pick a side, knowledge is after all very important when making a decision such as that, very well said mister Black," The small professor said to me.

I smiled back and nodded my head, "Thank you, Professor."

Professor Flitwick nodded again before looking to the other, "Let me be the first to welcome you all to Ravenclaw house, as you've no doubt already deduced, I'm Professor Flitwick, head of Ravenclaw house, and it's my privilege to welcome you all to your new house here at Hogwarts." he said with pride, "Here in Ravenclaw we pride ourselves on intelligence, wisdom and wit, as well as creativity, originality, individuality and acceptance. Though we're only known for the first three, keep the others in mind as they are just as important."

Hearing that I inwardly scowled, 'Yeah right, what was with all the bullying of Luna then in the later years, where was the acceptance there, where was the acceptance of her individuality and creativity? That is not going to happen while I'm here' I thought to myself as I continued to listen to the speech.

"I expect to see great things from each of you during your time here at Hogwarts. Hogwarts is a place of learning, and for growing, and for Ravenclaws it is where you will learn all you will need for when you leave to go out and better our world with your knowledge and wisdom." the small Professor beamed, "Should you need any assistance or have any questions you can find me in my office in between class times, or at any other times you can ask any of the prefects for help, they will be able to help with homework by recommending books or passages to read or checking your work for corrections and give advice, but they will not do the homework for you, this is the house of learning after all. Now, I believe I have kept you all long enough, and I think it's time you all went to find your dorm rooms, good night"

With that, we all divided, boys and girls, and went to go to our dorms but before I could get very far, Professor Flitwick spoke again. "Mister Black a moment if you please," he said kindly.

I stopped and turned back to the small professor as the others continued on to the stairway. "Yes Professor?" I asked.

"Mister Black, as you've no doubt guessed, you're arrival has caused some shock this evening, as a result the Headmaster has asked that you attend a meeting with him in his office tomorrow morning to straighten some things out and answer some questions" Professor Flitwick told me with a gentle smile and a neutral tone.

I nodded, "I see, that's understandable," I replied having expected this, "I take it you will be accompanying me to, and during the meeting, as per the Hogwarts charter permits?" I inquired.

I saw Professor Flitwick blink a couple of times in shock at my statement before smiling a bit more, "I say, you've read the Hogwarts charter?" he stated sounding shocked and happy.

I smiled and nodded, "Yes, well glanced over it would be a better phrase, it's quite a large volume but I managed to find a copy in the library in Black manor, and I was interested in to learn more about Hogwarts, my grandparents told me what parts I should focus on first, but intend to give it a more thorough reading during the summer when I have some free time" I explained.

Professor Flitwick's smile grew more and more with every word I said, "oh splendid, I can see why you were made one of my Raven's Mister Black, and I will certainly be attending the meeting with you, I'm quite curious to learn a bit more about you myself given your sudden appearance" he chuckled, "now I'd better not keep you, off you go." he said with a smile and a wave of his hand as he dismissed me.

I nodded, "good night Professor." I said before turning and heading towards the staircase leading up to the boy's dormitories.

Luckily by the time I had made it up the stairs, everyone else had already found their rooms so there was only one door left open, stepping in I could see my trunk at the end of the large double bed with midnight blue sheets.

I closed the door to my doom before going towards my trunk and opening it and starting down the ladder and closing the lid behind me, grateful that I had my own room meaning that it would make it easier going in and out of my trunk without people seeing me.

Reaching the bottom of the ladder I started down the corridor and through the common area into my master bedroom and right to the bedside table taking out the mirror inside grateful that I had spotted these things when I had been in the Black vault at Gringotts. Communication mirrors.

"Andromeda Tonks," I spoke into the mirror and a couple of seconds later the reflective surface of the mirror shimmered and Aunt Andy appeared in the mirror.

"About time Magnus, we've been waiting for over half an hour," Aunt Andy said over the line before a pink haired Tonks stuck her head in.

"Wotcha cousin, damn this thing really works, wish I had these when I was in Hogwarts" Tonks smirked as she peered at me from beside Aunt Andy through the mirror.

I smirked, "Sorry Aunt Andy, hey Tonks."

"So how did it go during the sorting, like we suspected?" Aunt Andy asked me

"And what house did you get into? Ouch!" Tonks asked impatiently only to get a smack on the back of the head from Andy.

I chuckled, "It went exactly as we suspected it would, my name being called out shocked everyone, though I haven't had any problems yet because of it, though I have been told that Dumbledore wanted to have a word with me tomorrow morning in his office, no doubt he will have a number of questions for me, I've asked that my head of house be present there already."

Aunt Andy nodded her head as she looked to be in thought, "I see, yes just as we suspected then, Ted has already dropped off the information with the Daily Prophet as you wanted, and I'll make sure I'm free tomorrow morning to floo to Hogwarts for that meeting if you need me."

I nodded, "Good, oh and tell Ted that he'll want to be ready, I met cousin Draco on the train, he's no doubt send an owl off to his father and that will likely stir up some trouble." I explained.

Aunt Andy nodded, "Will do, knowing dear sweet Lucius as I do, he'll likely try something soon as soon as he hears, but given the time it won't be until the mornings prophet until we find out what, but we've got our bases covered so we're ready for whatever he can pull," she said with a confident smirk.

Tonks finally had enough, "Oh enough of the boring stuff already, come on the suspense is killing me, come on what house are you in?" she asked as Aunt Andy sighed.

I smirked, "I landed in the raven's nest," I said with amusement to Tonk's playful attitude. Something that I had come to grow accustomed to over the month I'd known her.

"Ravenclaw!" Tonks said with a grin, "you landed with the know-it-alls? Ow!" she said only to get another smack to the back of the head from her mother again.

Aunt Andy rolled her eyes at Tonks, "well it was going to be that or Slytherin, no way you would have been in Gryffindor, I think Aunt Walburga's portrait would have died itself if you had been. I can see your idea of how the houses are actually sorted was true then, about their values and not their actual traits?"

"Hm, what?" Tonks asked completely out of the loop on the matter as I had only discussed my idea with Aunt Andy on this for her insight.

I smirked, "Aunt Andy can explain it to you later Tonks, but the gist is, I'm a Ravenclaw with Slytherin tendencies… a snake in the raven's nest if you will," I explained and it seemed to dawn on her then.

"You mean you tricked the hat?" Tonks asked in shock.

I shook my head, "Nope, I just figured out how the sorting really is done, and used that to my advantage, after all, think about it, how Slytherin is it to be put into Slytherin?" I asked.

Tonks giggled, "now that you put it like that, not real-ow!" she replied only to get a smack to the back of the head again from Aunt Andy whose eye was twitching in irritation as she gave me a narrowed glare through the mirror.

I chuckled, "Still sensitive about that hm?" I asked grinning.

"Be thankful that I can't send stinging hexes through this mirror young man, or you'd be getting a few." Andy said with irritation in her voice.

I just grinned, "Well you can always try if you're here tomorrow, but you know I'm just stating the truth" I smiled only to get a grumbled response of "wise-ass kid" through the mirror making both Tonks and me chuckle.

"Well I have to go, wanna get a good night sleep if I have to deal with the old coot in the morning," I said with a grin, "talk with you both later, bye Aunt Andy," I said before my grin grew, "bye Nymphadora~" I chimed as I ended the call as I saw red hair and hear a cry of "Hey!"

I chuckled as I put the mirror on my bed table and then when to get ready for bed, it had been a hell of a long day.


	6. Chapter 6

**Alright everyone, reviews have been pouring in and I'm pleased to see that it is being well recieved, and as thanks for that I've been busting by butt to get this next chapter done as fast as possible to get it done and up for you all to read, hey ten thousand word chapters take time to do and this was probably as fast as I could do it, I had a couple days of writers block there near the end but I powered through today because I wanted to post it before I went to bed, and good new I am, so I hope you all enjoy, make sure to leave a review and let me know what you think so far, next chapter should be up in a week or two at the most, that's if another bout of writers block dosen't hit me.**

* * *

 **Chapter Six- Meetings and Marauders**

My first morning in Hogwarts started out like all my mornings had for the past month as I woke up taking my wand in hand and cast a quick _tempus_ to check the time. It was just before six in the morning before I got up and went to do my morning training, which wasn't a lot considering I'm in the body of an eleven-year-old but enough to really make me sweat, before going for a shower and grabbing a quick bite to eat in the kitchen before heading to my office for my morning occlumency session to strengthen my mental shields.

As I was sitting cross-legged in my office space reinforcing my shields, I took the time to review my memories from the day before on my conversation with the sorting hat. The more I did the more I berated myself for not asking if there was any way I could free Hogwarts from the old coot's control.

I would have to figure out another way to talk with the hat to see if it knows how I would go about it, but I knew I would have to be careful. If I took the control of the school away from Dumbledore that could cause a whole mess of problems, not just for my plans but for my future knowledge if his control of the school is crucial to anything that is meant to happen, I would have a lot of further planning to do to decide when the best time to do that would be so as not to mess anything up that I need to happen.

' _ **I believe that I may be able to help you there,'**_ came the voice of my phoenix familiar, Erebus, in my head.

' _Oh, and how would you be able to help?'_ I asked in response not opening my eyes as I replied mentally.

' _ **You do recall I am a phoenix, there is nowhere I cannot go, and I can see from your thoughts that you know where the hat is kept. I could easily bring the hat to you so that you may ask it your questions,'**_ Erebus stated as if it was obvious.

I mentally nodded, ' _That could work, but we'll have to wait for an opportunity to do so. The last thing I need is to send you to pick up the hat and then either Dumbledore sees you or notices the hat is missing. We need to keep to the shadows, for now, the old man is both magically and politically powerful, taking him head on and out in the open would be foolish'._

' _ **Then doing so when he is away from the castle would be our best opportunity, and for a time when he won't be back, so as to give you time to ask your questions and have the hat returned. I recall you mentioning two times soon that we could do so, once at the end of this year and the other near the end of second year, I could retrieve the hat either time'**_ Erebus reasoned.

I thought over the two times and frowned, ' _The opportunity at the end of this year would be best, the one when he's supposedly travelling to the ministry for an emergency matter when Quirrell makes his move on the philosopher stone, but something's troubling me about that. We need to make sure he's really gone, and I can think of only one way to do that'._

' _ **The map that the red-headed twins have the one that was created by the Marauders?'**_ Erebus stated reading my mind.

' _Yes, the twins use it for their pranks and I don't think they're going to give it up easily, I'll have to have you retrieve it before you go to retrieve the sorting hat so that we can check that Dumbledore has really left the grounds. If he hasn't we'll have to put it off until second year when he is suspended by the school board. At least then we will know he's really gone'_ I explained before opening my eyes as I finished my session before I stood up and began to stretch my legs out.

' _ **Are you ready for your meeting with the old coot this morning?'**_ Erebus asked me as I stretched.

"As ready as I can be, I think I know what to expect in this meeting. But I'm entering into uncharted waters here seeing as it will be the first time and all," I responded.

' _ **Indeed, but I think you need to rethink your approach before you go to this meeting. You're not the only one who will have presumptions on how this meeting is going to go, the old coot has seen countless students you might draw attention to yourself'**_ Erebus said as I looked to him.

"What do you mean, "might draw attention"?" I asked trying to get what he was meaning.

Erebus gave me a deadpan look, ' _ **You're eleven years old, yet you act like you are much older. I know that's because mentally you are but, don't you think that's going to throw up some red flags in the old man's face when a student is serious and dead set against him from the start?'**_

I frowned, "So you think I should try and try and act as old as I look? Like an eleven-year-old?" I asked as I thought it overseeing the merits of it.

Erebus gave me a nod of his head, ' _ **Yes, a smart but well-read eleven-year-old, who just so happens to be messing up the old buggers plans on every turn'**_ he said and I swear he was grinning.

I smirked, "And I'd drive him insane in the process, it goes with my plan of keeping myself under the radar for now." I said amused at the idea, ' _it would be a good way to mess with the old bastard'._

' _ **And while you're at it why not have some more fun? I do recall your uncle having a certain legacy that needs to be followed here at Hogwarts?'**_ Erebus said with what sounded like a chuckle, ' _ **It would be a good cover for you, and hilarious all at the same time?'**_

I paused to think for a moment and my eyes widened, "The Marauders? You want me to be a prankster? Like the Marauders and the Weasley twins?" I asked as I started chuckling at the idea.

' _ **Why not? You have advanced knowledge of various events that you could prepare pranks for in advance, you could have a laugh, drive Dumbledore mental at the same time, and keep alive the marauders legacy. You need to lighten up some, you're a bit too serious you know?'**_ Erebus told me.

I chuckled and shook my head, "No I'm not, I'm Magnus Black, Sirius is in Azkaban" I smirked.

Erebus gave me a deadpan look again, ' _ **Really the serious and Sirius joke… you know what I mean.'**_

I smirked and nodded my head, "Yeah I do, and you're right I have been a little serious, but considering the pressures on my shoulders and the odds I'm up against can you really blame me?" I said as I started to count off the tasks using my fingers, "I've got a war to prepare for, a dark lord in disguise to bring down, and Hogwarts classes to attend, on top of learning to be the head of a most ancient and most noble house, I think anyone would be as serious as I am."

Erebus nodded his head once more, ' _ **True, but you're forgetting that you are in the body of a young boy, people don't expect you to be so serious all the time, loosen up, have some fun and think about the pranks'**_

I snorted, "Okay fine, I'll loosen up some and act more my age… and I'll think about the pranks" I said as I turned and walked towards the door, ' _might be fun.'_

I chuckled as I heard Erebus in my mind as I walked out, ' _ **That's the spirit!'**_

* * *

 **Scene break- Ravenclaw common room**

After climbing out of my trunk I closed it up before heading out of my dorm room and went down the stairs to the common room to find Professor Flitwick waiting for me, I blinked, ' _Guess the old coot wants to have the meeting before breakfast then, a little off-putting, having a meeting with a young boy who in all likelihood wouldn't have been more than an hour out of bed, most wouldn't be properly awake yet.'_ I thought to myself, and part of me wanted to play that up and act like it, but my current state did not look it so I just rolled with it.

"Good morning Professor, I take it you're here to escort me to my meeting with the headmaster?" I asked politely.

Professor Flitwick gave me a smile and a nod, "Indeed I am Mister Black. I must say it's good to see you're up, I was wondering if I would have to send one of the older students up to wake you." He said lightly still smiling.

I shook my head, "I'm an early riser Professor, always have been."

Professor Flitwick chuckled, "Indeed, a good habit that." he said warmly, "Right then, come along Mister Black, we don't want to keep the headmaster waiting now do we."

"After you Professor," I said and with a bow of my head and a smile, ' _Well no backing out now.'_

Professor Flitwick turned and started towards the exit of the common room and I followed close behind as I brought up some of my occlumency shields to try and calm myself down, I could feel my heart thumping with worry, time to meet the headmaster.

* * *

 **Scene break- Headmasters office**

In the large and grand office, Dumbledore sat behind his oversized desk as he sucked on one of his favourite muggle sweets that he had taken a fancy to in his many years as he waited for young Magnus to arrive.

To the right of his desk stood Severus Snape, whom he allowed to attend due to sate his curiosity, that they all shared about the appearance of the young Magnus, and to the left Minerva McGonagall whom had insisted on being here as her right as deputy headmistress and given that she had been the one to do the meet and greet with Magnus when she delivered his Hogwarts letter Albus had seen no way to deny her, and he didn't see the harm in it.

He had reasoned with himself that Minerva's presence might help the boy to be at ease more so they could get answers out of him easier, or if it didn't then he could always resort to the lemon drops, the ones that he had out on his desk that he had Severus seep calming draught in, to help lower the boys guard and get answers out of him that way he was only a child after all, and children loved candy.

He had already gleaned as much information as he could from his deputy about Magnus as possible he had only stopped shy of asking for her memory of the boy, knowing that she would refuse him as she would never give over something so personal as a memory for another to view, not even to him.

He had gathered from what she had told him about the boy, that he was quite smart but well mannered and respectable, though when she had also mentioned that she found his rather rapid hair growth odd, but he didn't pay that any serious attention to that.

Right now Albus only interest was in getting the boy under his thumb as another pawn that he knew would prove to be useful, especially with how full the Black vault was said to be, though he knew there would be dark items in the vault given the family's past, he only cared for the galleons he could gain from acquiring control over such a reputable vault.

While siphoning from the Potter vault would see his reserves well full in due time, the process was slow given that he was limited by the orders left with the account manager that limited the yearly amount he was able to take out of the vault, the amount that he claimed he was putting into the care of young Harry.

But he knew that there would be no such restrictions on the Black vault and that he could drain it dry in a matter of minutes. What use did two young boys have for such wealth anyway? Much better that it go to someone who could make use of it, mainly him.

And now Albus started to think what he could do with all that gold once he'd taken control of the Black vault as he thought of all the uses he'd have for it, it would mean that he wouldn't be limited in his bribing funds anymore, not that he'd need to do much with both Potter and Black seats in his pocket.

His attention was taken however by the thrills of his familiar who was sitting on his perch off to the far left of them, Albus just smiled his grandfatherly smile as he looked to his familiar, whom he had acquired many years ago. He could tell that Fawkes was unhappy as he normally was, though today he seemed particularly so. Perhaps he would buy him a new perch with some of the money, one that was grander and with gemstones on it, such a purchase would only boost his reputation more if his familiar was on such a perch.

Fawkes thrilled sadly, the perverse link that he had with Dumbledore told him what the old man was thinking and planning, and he could only watch on as his captor continued to get his way not caring for other and using them to achieve his own ends, the bond that the old man had forced on him years ago limited his powers severely and weakened him physically.

Oh how he despised the old man and cursed himself for letting down his guard all those years ago and allowing himself to be captured and bond like this with no hope of escape and forced to watch on with no way of stopping the old man from achieving his ends which he could see would not bode well for the wizarding world if he succeeded.

* * *

 **Scene break- With Magnus and Flitwick**

Magnus continued to follow Professor Flitwick through the corridors as the small Professor led him to Dumbledore's office. All the while Magnus was memorising the route and doing his best to calm himself and control his emotions.

So he was reasonably calm as they came up to the large stone griffon that guarded the entrance to the stairs to the Headmasters office and stopped as he listened to Professor Flitwick speak the password.

"Acid Pops." Professor Flitwick states with amusement and they both watched on as the wings of the griffon raised up as it turned and the steps begin to rise up after it.

"The headmaster has a liking for muggle sweets," Professor Flitwick offered in explanation with an amused shake of his head before starting up the stairs as Magnus followed up behind him a moment after.

The Professor had only just knocked on the door when Dumbledore's voice spoke from the other side of it, "Come in Filius, Mister Black," he called before the door began to open on its own as if commanded.

Magnus felt himself tense slightly, ' _How did he know that we were even out here, was he just guessing or was it some subtle magic'_ Magnus thought as he followed the Professor into the office only to find himself taken aback by the fact that it wasn't just Dumbledore waiting for them but also both Professor McGonagall and Snape.

' _Talk about an ambush, all who's missing is Professor Sprout and this would be a head of staff meeting just to see to one first-year student.'_ Magnus mentally worried while he kept his features as regular as he could with his occlumency training and smiled a little nervously, as any child would be walking into a room full of adults, "Good morning Professors, Headmaster." Magnus greeted them politely.

Snape didn't seem to even acknowledge his greeting in the slightest, not that Magnus expected he would, but both McGonagall and Dumbledore both gave the young boy gentle smiles back, while Magnus also got an eye twinkle from Dumbledore through his half-moon spectacles but Magnus already had his barriers up and keep his gaze away from the old man's eyes.

' _Already trying to draw my eye to read my thoughts, he doesn't waste any time,'_ Magnus worried to himself internally as he kept his worries from his face.

Dumbledore at the same time internally frowned as he failed to make eye contact with the boy, he had planned to do a quick mental probe to see the boys thoughts on things so far to try and find an opening to exploit but the boy didn't seem to want to make eye contact with him, for a second he worried that the boy knew about legilimency, but cast that thought aside after a moment of thought, the boy was obviously just a little intimidated, he would get an opening soon enough.

With the first hurdle averted Magnus decided it was best to shift his gaze for now so as not to give Dumbledore another chance at getting even a glance at his thoughts and moved his gaze to Professor McGonagall.

"Hello Professor it's nice to see you again," Magnus smiled, "sorry I'm not in your house, looks like I'm not as brave as I thought." he lightly joked remembering some of the conversation they had shared about the Hogwarts houses when she had given him the full introduction at the orphanage.

Professor McGonagall's smile was small but warm, she had taken a liking to Magnus when she had first met him at the orphanage and was a little sad that he wasn't one of her lions but that didn't mean she'd treat him poorly now because of where he was placed, "Indeed. It's nice to see you again as well Mister Black, you seem to have caused quite the stir with your new name."

Magnus rubbed the back of his head as he feigns embarrassment, "it wasn't on purpose Professor honest" he said as he did his best to act like an embarrassed young boy who'd was embarrassed about the whole thing.

Professor McGonagall smile grew a little bit seeing Magnus respond as he had, as he reminded her of the only Black to go through her house, and she didn't know to be happy or a little worried about that given how that Black had turned out in the end.

Dumbledore seeing the opening smiled as he rose from behind his desk, "Yes well hopefully we can get to the bottom of this before we all go to breakfast this morning," he said in his best grandfatherly tone as his eyes twinkled before he looked to Flitwick, "thank you Filius you can go, I'm sure you're hungry." he said in an effort to dismiss the small Professor, having Minerva there he would be limited enough as it was.

But the small Professor just stood his ground, "Thank you, headmaster, but I think I'll stay, young Mister Black here has requested beforehand that I attend this meeting as well as his head of house, as the Hogwarts charter allows him to do." Professor Flitwick stated knowing he was in the right.

Dumbledore paused for a moment shocked at the rebuttal but didn't let his irritation be shown on his face at being refused, "very well Filius if you insist," he said as if it was no problem before once more turning his twinkling gaze to Magnus and with a flourish of his hand conjured a chair for the boy, "please have a seat, my boy," he said before gesturing to the bowl on his desk, "Lemon drop?" he offered.

Magnus nodded his head politely and took the offered seat, and looked at the candy that he was offered and instantly had warning bells going off in his head about all the fanfictions that had suspicions about those sweets, he would find out not if any of them held true.

Magnus smiled reaching forward as it to take a sweet with his right hand he did so making sure his detection ring had its gems beneath his hand so as not to let anyone else see the glow, and sure enough as his hand neared the bowl he saw she gem flash purple and then yellow indicating a mind-altering potion of some sort was at play with the sour sweets.

Magnus let a moment of hesitation come to his face before he withdrew his hand, "on second thoughts I wouldn't want to spoil my breakfast." he offered as an excuse.

That didn't seem to raise any eyebrows with wither Professor McGonagall or Flitwick but did get a slight eyebrow raise from Snape, while Dumbledore was mentally frowning as his subtle ploy had failed but didn't let it show as he smiled his grandfatherly smile.

"Now then my boy could you please enlighten us as to why when Professor McGonagall went to meet with you at the orphanage your last name was Parker but yet when your name was called out yesterday evening it had changed to Black?" Dumbledore asked inquisitively, his eyes still twinkling.

Magnus for his part took note of the familiar way that the old man addressed him referring to him as "my boy" and remembered as to how Walburga had told him about how he should address others, and that as a Professor Dumbledore should be addressing him formally as Mister Black if anything and could easily tell that Dumbledore was trying to act more friendly and lower his guard.

Not letting the realisation show on his face Magnus only continued to look slightly embarrassed as he kept his gaze well below the man's eyes.

"I'm sorry headmaster but with how things went down it was decided that my discovery was kept secret at the time for the protection and well being of house Black," Magnus stated and if he had been looking at Dumbledore's eyes he would have instantly seen the twinkle fade from them, "It was when I went to have my blood tested by the goblins before I could gain access to my Hogwarts vault for my funds that it was discovered that I was actually an illegitimate son of the most ancient and most noble house of Black and because of that I was made a Black given that there aren't many of them left. And because of who my father was I was named the rightful Heir Black."Magnus explained as he raised his hand and his heir ring appeared getting some wide-eyed looks seeing it.

Dumbledore seeing the ring was worrying slightly, this was the kind of thing he should have been informed of immediately, not only as headmaster but as a member of the wizengamot, an orphaned heir to a most ancient and most noble house was something that many of the members would try to pounce on and try to claim guardianship over through various links to house Black.

Internally he started scowling, the goblins had covered this up for some reason, had he known about Magnus when he was discovered he would have easily have been able to claim guardianship over the boy before word had ever reached the winzingamots ears. But as he hadn't done so before he knew his right of guardianship could be contested and other parties could try to claim such over the boy and he was now required, by law, to inform the wizengamot of this revelation… unless he could discredit the claim, if he couldn't use the boy to his own ends he would have to prevent others from doing so.

"I see," Dumbledore stated as he realised his next course of action, "well perhaps they were not wise to do such, after all, illegitimate children often have no right to inherit, and such tests are only meant to discover any magical connections. It is usually left up to the head of the house to decide if the illegitimate child deserves any such aid." he said sounding remorseful while inside he was chuckling, "I'm afraid that the goblins may have overstepped their bounds in such matters by declaring you heir Black."

Magnus hearing the old man's first statement instantly realised what Dumbledore was going for and internally scowled while he let his outer expression change to one of shock, 'So he's going for this method is he… got ya'

But before Magnus could give his reply came an angered yell from above them from someone Magnus has completely forgotten about until now, Phineas Nigellus Black.

"Now hold on just a second Albus," Phineas said as he raised his voice, "you are aware as well as I how heirs are verified, if he was not worthy to be the heir then he would not be able to wear the Black heir ring." the aged portrait said with a aged irritation to his tone.

Magnus blinked as the portrait came to his defence and he thought that he had perhaps judged the man's loyalties wrong, if he was willing to defend him against Dumbledore, perhaps he wasn't under the man's sway after all.

Albus for a second looked taken aback by the sudden rebuttal from the portrait but suppressed his anger as he calmed his features, "Be that as it may Phineas, it doesn't change the fact that the Goblins have overstepped their bounds on this matter, his discovery should have been brought to the wizengamot, in the absence of his head of house, for the decision to be made if he should be allowed to become the heir to the house of Black." he stated as he continued to push his point.

Magnus internally was jumping for joy as the old man brought up that fact, but kept an unsure face as he spoke, "um what about his portrait?" he asked respectfully.

The others all looked to him as he spoke as Professor McGonagall asked, "To what portrait are you referring to Mister black?" she asked as Dumbledore looked as though he had just swallowed a bad lemon drop.

Magnus looked to her in a confused child-like manner as he replied, "My grandfather's," he told her, "when I went into the Black Vault, I met both his and my grandmothers paintings, both said that I would be a good heir and welcomed me to the family" he said looking more happier by the end, "they've been teaching me about my heritage while I'm staying at Black manor." he added.

"That sounds very nice Mister Black," Professor McGonagall said, happy to see the young boy sounding happy, as she put it towards him finding some family, portraits or not.

"Well there you have it," Phineas proclaimed from his portrait, "he's been accepted into the family and recognised by the portrait of the last Lord Black, which by law is accepted in place of the lord himself when the last lord has already passed. It is only when neither option is available that the wizengamot has to get involved."

Dumbledore once again suppressed his annoyance as his attempt to manipulate the situation was blocked at every turn, he couldn't change it now. He quickly tried to think, if he couldn't guarantee control the boy himself and he couldn't keep others from doing so he would have to arrange who would, "I see, I understand now. But be that as it may, they still overstepped their bounds. I will have to contact the ministry to arrange for a meeting to arrange for a guardian for outside of Hogwarts, I can't imagine that living in Black manor by yourself even with your grandparent's portraits for company to be healthy and safe," he said putting on his best worried grandfatherly tone.

Magnus gave a childlike smile, "That's alright headmaster, my account manager already arranged for guardians for me, they've been living with me in Black manor for the past month, they're great." he said childlike still, while inwardly laughing his ass off.

Dumbledore mentally cursed as yet another avenue for controlling the boy was blocked, ' _blast it, oh well if I can't arrange that, perhaps I might be able to manipulate or discredit whoever it is'_ he said as he nodded his head, "I see, it seems as though your account manager has been very busy, might I ask who your guardian is dear boy?"

Magnus smiled, "my cousin, Andromeda Tonks," he said happily.

And with that Albus felt a shred of hope that he might be able to work this in his favour after all, "Ah, I'm afraid that might prove to be problematic my dear boy, you see dear Andromeda is no longer a Black, she was cast from the family some years ago if memory calls, and as such I'm afraid she cannot be your guardian" Albus stated while he did a happy dance in his head.

Magnus internally scowled while he blinked outwardly in confusion, "But I welcomed her and Tonks back into the family as the Heir, my account manager said I could and they're the only close family I have left" he said while looking a little hurt.

"And he was right to do so," Phineas said from above them getting nods from the other portraits, "and it was a very wise move on your part, to bring in others to help you, Andromeda was a fine Black, regardless in her marital decision, family is family."

McGonagall nodded her head, "Indeed, I remember Andromeda. A fine young woman and now a respected healer and her husband, Ted, is a respected law wizard. And their daughter Nymphadora who left last year was quite the rambunctious girl, I'm sure they would be a wonderful family for you Mister Black."

Dumbledore was started to struggle to restrain his anger again, nothing seemed to be going his way, "yes that is most wonderful, though I can't help but wonder if perhaps a better arrangement can't be made, I'm sure the sudden responsibility of looking after a second ward when both Andromeda and Edward have such successful careers."

Magnus frowned outwardly while internally he was grinning, he has seen his opportunity and he pounced on it, "I'm not sure, but we could always ask Aunt Andy, today's her day off she should be at home"

Professor Flitwick who had remained silent until now smiled, "A marvelous idea Mister Black, the floo is right over there do you know your address," he asked and Magnus nodded, "Then why don't we call her and ask her to come through and we can sort this entire matter out now,"

Magnus nodded again and didn't wait for Dumbledore to give permission before he got out of his seat and hurried over to the fireplace and took a pinch of the floo powder from the small pot off to the side before tossing it into the grating and whispering the address, "Grimmauld Place"

Dumbledore meanwhile was spluttered as Magnus went to the fireplace. Calling Andromeda here was the last thing he wanted, he knew the woman held a dislike for him, but he couldn't very well refuse such right now given how she was apparently the boy's guardian and as Finius had already stated she would be the quickest way to sort this whole mess out. His hands were tied and he could only watch as the green flames flared in the fire as the network connected.

"Aunt Andy are you there?" Magnus asked knowing already that she would be, and after a moment or two, a picture of Andromeda appeared in the flames.

"Magnus, I'm here what's wrong? Has something happened?" Andromeda stated over the line putting on the little show so that it wouldn't be suspected that she had been waiting for the call.

"Aunt Andy I'm in the headmaster's office at Hogwarts, my Professors would like to talk with you, do you have time to come over to talk with them?" Magnus asked as he kept up the act,

"Oh, of course. but what is all this about, surely you haven't caused any trouble, Magnus, that doesn't sound like you?" Andromeda said as the flames flickered.

Flitwick who heard quickly made his way over and spoke into the flames, "No nothing like that Mrs Tonks, it's just that young Magnus's sudden appearance and placement in house Black has caused a stir as you can imagine, and the headmaster just wished to confirm such as well as your guardianship over him."

"Of course Professor Flitwick, give me a moment and I'll be right over, I just need to grab something that should help, as it happens I was just in the process of adding Magnus to the family tapestry so I have the documents to back up his claims at hand" Andromeda gave her excuse before disappearing from the flames.

Both Magnus and Flitwick stepped back from the fireplace and several moments later green flames rose up once more from the grates and died down a second later as Andromeda stepped out of them holding a document folder underarm.

With a flick of her wrist she dusted the ash from her shoulders before looking to the occupants of the room, "Magnus, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall, Snape" she said as she walked over before looking to Dumbledore, "Headmaster, always nice to see you again." She stated her voice dripping with sarcasm through her thin-lipped smile.

Dumbledore smiled hiding his displeasure as he nodded his head, "And you, Andromeda, I trust you are well."

"As well as can be expected," Andromeda said in a clipped tone, "now what is all this about you're not believing Magnus's claim to being a Black?" she asked her tone short.

"Ah yes, I was just expressing my concerns," Dumbledore stated as if nothing was wrong, "it would seem that the goblins did not pass the word on about young Magnus being discovered, so his claim could not be verified by the wizengamot and the appropriate actions are taken to ensure he was properly cared for, I'm sure with both yours and Edwards busy schedules you wouldn't have time to care for a new ward."

Andromeda simply smiled, "Actually Dumbledore I have such verification here, his birth certificates as well as a blood inherency test to prove he is of house Black and who his parents are, so there is no further verification needed," she said as she set the folder down on the desk.

Snape chose this time to speak, "Hardly surprising, given how loose Black was with women, I'm surprised more of his spawn hasn't turned up yet" the man sneered.

Magnus glared at Snape for the comment but it was Andromeda who spoke first, "Actually it would surprise you to know that Magnus is not Sirius's son, his father was Regulus." Andromeda said giving Snape a narrowed glare as she opened the folder showing the family tree.

Snape's eyes widened a fraction at that statement, he had automatically assumed that the boy was a spawn of his rivals best friend, but finding out it was actually his brothers made the man pause to re-evaluate before stepping forward as he looked at the tree and sure enough there it was, he paused again to think before he spoke, "I see." he said as he thought over the facts again, the boy was a descendant of one from Slytherin house… this required more thought.

The statement also brought McGonagall to the table as she leaned over the desk to peer at the documents before her eyes flashed with recognition of not just Regulus's name but that of Alisha Parker she gasped before she covered her mouth, "Alisha" she said in shock.

Professor Flitwick gave a small shocked squeak in equal recognition of the name as his eyes went wide, "Oh my".

Magnus blinked at the Professors actions as McGonagall turned to him, "I thought it was just a coincidence".

Magnus felt himself stiffen at a realisation of what her words meant, "You knew my mother didn't you?" he asked a little slowly as he did so.

Minerva slowly lowered her hand, nodding as she did so, "I did," she said sounding rather heartbroken, "She was one of my lions, I remember her well," she said as she smiles fondly at memories.

Magnus looked shocked, "My mother was in Gryffindor?" he asked genuinely not faking the shock, the memories of the years he had spent in the orphanage coming to the surface as he felt genuine emotion hearing about his mother.

Minerva smiled and nodded, "She was, one of the many I remember fondly, so passionate and full of fire, always there for a friend in need."

Magnus took in a breath and swallowed as he listened, he could feel tears threatening to come and he blinked his eyes fighting them back, "I… I never knew her," he said as he felt the emotions stir in him, the emotions of that of a child that had longed for the comfort of his mother, the years of not knowing, it overwhelmed him, he couldn't think clearly and his control slipped.

His shoulder-length black hair began to recede and returned to his normal length and his grey eyes flickered and turned to a hazelnut brown his sudden changes drew gasps from each in the room.

"A metamorphmagus," Snape said in realisation.

Magnus blinked suddenly at the statement and his eyes opened wide, 'C _crap, I lost focus'_ he mentally berated himself as he did his best to calm himself once more.

Dumbledore seemed to smile, "My that is a rather rare gift you have my boy," he said before looking to Andromeda, "A Black family trait if I'm not mistaken." he stated.

Andromeda nodded, "Yes, Nymphadora had been giving him lessons on how to control it," she said as she looked to Magnus, "are you alright?"

Magnus took a breath and nodded, "Yes just a little bit shocked lost my form," he explained before reaching up and brushing his hair back as he lengthened it once more, "sorry about that."

Andromeda smiled, "Your eyes have reverted too dear," she told him after.

Magnus blinked in confusion, "My eyes?" he asked not sure what she meant, he hadn't been doing anything to his eyes before.

Andromeda smiled, "They're brown now," she told him as she looked him in the eye.

Magnus blinked again at that statement, ' _What, but I hadn't been changing my eye colour before, they were always grey, well in this life they were brown but...'_ he thought to himself.

Mineva seemed to smile, "Oh, now I can see," she said as she drew his attention, "now I can see her in you, your mother had those same eyes, brown and full of warmth," she said looking at him with a warm smile.

Magnus looked at her and he felt his emotions start to surge again the memories coming to the surface and he smiled, "She did?" he asked as Minerva nodded in confirmation Magnus smiled and decided to leave them as they were then, he didn't know how it had happened but that didn't matter right then.

Andromeda then turned back from the scene to face Dumbledore, "As you can see he is clearly a Black, accepted into the family by the Portrait of Uncle Orion and made Heir to the house. And as for your statement about us not having the time to look after him, I assure you that we have more than enough, Magnus is a very mature young boy and doesn't need much looking after. Nymphadora enjoys having him as a little brother the two get along well together."

Dumbledore internally sighed he knew this wouldn't be a fight that he could win in this setting without preparation and planning, he was by no means ready to give up on the opportunity that had opened up with the boy attending his school, but for now, he could wait there was no rush.

"I see," Dumbledore replied apologetically, "I meant no offence, it was just an old man's concerns, but I can see that they are unfounded," he stated.

Andromeda nodded her head, "Yes they were," she said as she moved to collect the folder, "now is there any other matter that you need to see to concerning my ward, given the time I hardly think he has even had breakfast yet."

Dumbledore nodded his head, "No there are no other matters currently," he said as he started to go through other possible ideas on how to get to the boy in his head, "Thank you for coming to clear this matter up, this has been most enlightening" he said with a twinkling in his eye.

Andromeda nodded before looking to Magnus for a moment and then back to Dumbledore, "I need to have a talk with Magnus, would it be alright if I walked him to the great hall, I can see myself out" she requested.

Dumbledore nodded his head, "I see no problem with that," he said and gestured to the door, "I trust you know the way"

Andromeda nodded her head and put her hand to behind Magnus's back as she ushered him to the door but they didn't get very far before Phineas spoke down to them, "Heir Black, I would request your aid, I seem to be unable to visit my portrait in Black manor, could you perhaps check on it when you get the chance?" he asked.

Magnus looked up and nodded his head, "Of course, I think it might have been knocked off the wall, I will have Kreature see to it" he said before they continued out the door with Professor Flitwick following behind them.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs Flitwick looked to Magnus, "I will leave your timetable with one of your year mates if you are not at the table in time"

Magnus nodded his head, "Thank you Professor, and thank you for accompanying me to this meeting" he smiled.

Professor Flitwick smiled, "Of course Mister Black, as your head of house it is my duty to do so upon request." he replied back happily.

Andromeda nodded her head as well, "Indeed, and I would request that it be like this any time that the headmaster wishes to have a word with my ward Professor, and if you cannot attend I ask that you contact myself so that I might. If you cannot reach me then you can inform the headmaster that the meeting can be put off until either of us can join Magnus in the meeting."

Professor Flitwick frowned slightly but nodded, "I can see to that, it's not an unreasonable request and I'm sure you have your reasons" he said before nodding his head, "now I will leave you two to have your chat" he said before turning and starting down the corridor rather quickly for a man so small.

Once Professor Flitwick was a fair distance away Magnus looked to Andromeda, "Privacy spell please" he asked and Andromeda nodded.

"Of course," she said as she took out her wand and circled the air above them as the muttered a string of spells to give them privacy to talk with a nod of her head as she returned her wand to her sleeve the two started down the corridor as well as they began to talk.

"Are you okay?" Andromeda asked as they walked, "I haven't seen you drop your transformation like that before." she asked gently.

Magnus nodded his head, "Yes I'm fine, I just… I wasn't expecting my mother to be brought up" he said as he still fought with the memories and the emotions that came with them, "... I never knew her… it was just a shock to hear about her."

Andromeda smiled and nodded, "That's understandable, I didn't think you did it on purpose." she said as they walked, "I'm sure McGonagall wouldn't mind you going by and asking her about your mother when you both have free time, I would tell you about her if I knew her but sadly she and I never had the chance to meet."

Magnus nodded his head, "I know you would," he said as he took a breath, "could we change the topic please, have you seen the prophet yet this morning?" he asked as they walked, "Do we know if they posted the announcement word for word?"

Andromeda nodded her head, "Yes I saw it just before I left, the announcement was posted in full, no surprise you made the front page" she smirked, "I think Ted might have had a little fun threatening them with legal suits should they have misprinted one word of the announcement, he's enjoying having the backing of a larger house as a client"

Magnus smirked, "Oh I bet he is, and I'll enjoy reading it at the Ravenclaw table, no doubt I'll have some more questions to answer when I get there, my housemates can be rather inquisitive" he chuckled.

Andromeda chuckled as well, "Well you are in the house of the intelligent. They're are bound to be hungry for knowledge when an heir to a thought near extinct house appears out of the blue." she said with amusement, "I'm still impressed you were sorted there given your clearly Slytherin look on things" she said giving him a sideways glance.

Magnus shrugged as they neared the great hall, "well given that I discovered how the hat really sorts, it's not that impressive, just takes a little bit more thinking" he said plainly.

Andromeda nodded as she once more took her wand from her sleeve and with a wave in the air and a chant of "Finite" she cancelled the privacy spells and nodded. "Okay, I will speak to you again tonight, let me know how your classes go, though given how much time you spent in the library and looking over your school books I can't see you having any trouble" Andromeda mused.

"I'll mirror you before I go to bed, don't worry," Magnus replied before he started in the direction of the great hall as he tried to think more about what happened in the meeting and about his memories but he was suddenly pulled from his thought by a sudden stinging pain in his backside as he jumped up with a yelp and his hands instantly went to his arse and rubbed as he turned to face Andromeda as he recognized the effects of a stinging hex and saw Andromeda smirking as she put her wand away.

"That was for last night and that Slytherin jab." Andromeda smirked, "Be thankful Nymphadora isn't here otherwise you'd be getting another from her."

Magnus winced and rubbed his backside and gave Andromeda an evil look, "You do realize that I will be getting you back for that," he said after a moment of rubbing.

Andromeda smirked and then headed towards the doors, "Just words Magnus, and that's all they will be until you can back them up," she said as she walked away.

Magnus watched her go for a moment more before he turned again and headed towards the hall giving his backside another rub as he did so, oh there would be payback alright, but to him, this just proved that he had a long way to go. He'd have to learn not to lower his guard like that. He smirked as he came to the large doorway into the great hall, ' _as Mad-eye would say "Constant Vigilance!" gotta get that down before shit hits the fan in four years… that's if I let it, still not sure what I can do but I'll do something'_ he thought as he walked into the hall.

Walking into the great hall Magnus made his way over to the Ravenclaw table and after a couple of seconds he was spotted and Tracey stood up to wave him over, "Hey there you are!" Tracey called to him, "Magnus over here!"

Magnus smirked as he started over to her as she sat down beside Daphne. Magnus took the seat opposite them, "Morning, I miss anything?" he asked as he sat down and started to make himself up a small breakfast from the food on the table, subtly checking with his ring as he did so.

Daphne shook her head, "No not much," she said before looking up at him, "Professor Flitwick has yet to hand out our timetables yet" she told him before narrowing her eyes slightly, "Hey, weren't your eyes grey before, you decide to change them up?" she asked.

Magnus smirked as he scooped some bacon onto his plate, "Yeah you could say that, I just came from a meeting with the headmaster, McGonagall, Snape and Flitwick, my appearance raised some questions they wanted answering." he said with some amusement, "No surprise really, though I would have prefered that the meeting was after breakfast, I'm hungry"

Daphne gave a roll of her eyes, "Well that's no shock, the sudden appearance of a Black, let alone a Black Heir is enough to make anyone curious, though it does seem a little underhanded to have the meeting before you've even eaten." she stated at the end with mild contempt.

Tracey shook her head, "It might not have even crossed their minds that it was seen that way, some people are just like that,"

Magnus gave a smirk, "and yet this is the headmaster we're talking about, you'd think he'd give it some thought" he said as he again subtly checked the drinks before pouring himself some of the milk.

Daphne caught his subtle movement as he checked with the ring but didn't say anything and just nodded her head, "true, he is meant to be knowledgeable, might have just slipped his mind."

Magnus gave a scoff, "maybe he's slipping into senility, I wouldn't put it past him he's how old now? Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest." he joked.

Daphne gave a faint smile of amusement as Tracey giggled beside her to that statement. "True he is getting on in his age," Daphne said with a hint of amusement in her tone, "maybe it's finally getting to him."

Magnus shook his head in amusement before taking a drink and setting the mug down, "Okay enough about Dumbledore and his descent into senility, new topic, I take it the mail hasn't arrived yet" he said changing the topic.

Tracey was the one to answer, "No not yet, why you expecting something?" she asked.

Magnus shrugged, "Just wanting to read the Prophet, My Aunt had to come in to the meeting with the headmaster by floo, she said that the Prophet posted the statement that my law wizard gave about my sudden appearance, I'm just wanting to check to see that it's word for word what I authorized" he explained.

Daphne nodded, "I'm not sure when the post is due to arrive but it should be shortly," she said as she finished taking a drink of her own.

Magnus nodded only to pause as the sound of beating wings and the sound of owl screeching above to catch his ear as he looked up as owls started to fly in through the windows. "Looks like you were right" he commented as he caught sight of Erebus in his owl form flying in with some things in his talons.

Erebus swooped down and dropped the bundled mail he held that Magnus caught in mid-air with relative ease before holding out his arm as Erebus landed on it on his return pass giving a beat of his wings as he landed.

"You have an owl?" Daphne asked as she saw Erebus after retrieving her own copy of the prophet from one of the school owls.

"Oh wow, he's beautiful," Tracey said as she saw Erebus on Magnus's arm.

Magnus smirked and nodded, "Yeah, his name is Erebus," he said before offering up some bacon, "Care for some breakfast?" he asked

Erebus pinched one of the strips of bacon, **_'I've already eaten, but I wouldn't pass up some bacon'_** he mentally replied before taking flight once more and flying out of the hall.

Magnus just smirked and began to unroll his newspaper, he took note of a letter addressed to him from Ted, but knew it was just the confirmation about having delivered the statement as ordered, Ted had told him he had to send such things out as it was the proper procedure.

He didn't have to look long before he found what he was looking for, Andy had been right he made the front page.

* * *

 **Lost son of the house of Black: Takes up heirship of the House of Black**

Yesterday evening shocking news was brought to our attention, thanks to the aid of the Lord Lucius Malfoy, Lord of the magical house of Malfoy. That the long-vacant position of Heir of the most ancient and most noble house of Black has been taken up once again by, at the time, persons unknown.

Lord Malfoy had this to say, "It was brought to my attention by my son that one of his fellow year-mates has the gall to lay claim to the position that rightfully belongs to him and house Malfoy. The title of heir Black belongs to my son, being of Black blood through his mother's side, he is the rightful heir to house Black, that has been stolen by this imposter. That he would sink so low as to confound the heir ring into accepting him and letting him wear it to fake his claim is only further proof of the depths that this imposter has delved so that he may steal what rightfully belongs to the magical house of Malfoy"

Such startling claims were believe to be true as records show that the current Malfoy heir, Draco Malfoy, is the son of lord Lucius Malfoy and lady Narcissa Malfoy nee Black, confirming Lord Malfoy's statement of his son being of the blood, and as no other male heirs at the time were known, it is also true that Draco Malfoy looked to be inline for the heirship of the house of Black as well as his father's.

However no less than ten minutes after Lord Malfoy had left the building after giving his statement. Law Wizard Edward Tonks arrived with a written statement and evidence proving the new heir's claim on the position to be genuine.

The new heir now identified as Magnus Roark Black, is the illegitimate child of the previous heir Regulus Arcturus Black, making him of Black blood also and through a direct male descendant, and Alisha Parker, the last descendant of a third generation magical house that perished in the last war with her death.

As I am sure all our readers know, Illegitimate children of houses cannot inherit heir or lordships unless they are welcomed into the house and made Heir apparent by the lord of the house. So the question I'm sure you're all asking is how did the new heir Black claim such when the previous lord Black, as we all know, died in the last year of the last war.

Well it has only just come to our attention that Lord Orion Black had, before he died, paintings commissioned of himself, to preserve him so that he might aid his son, heir Black's father, but only weeks after Lord Blacks own passing his son soon followed suit and the paintings have remained in Black manor and the Black vault since his death, and in place of the lord himself have recognised heir Black worth of the house and welcomed him naming him Heir apparent of the most ancient and most noble house of Black.

A position that the young heir has not let idle, as it has been revealed that the young heir's first decision as heir apparent to the house was to lift the banishment of his cousin, once removed, Andromeda Tonks nee Black, who has also been made heir Black's guardian, this decision also welcomes Andromeda's daughter into the house as well, a decision that both witches are thankful for.

A written statement from heir Black explaining his decision for doing so was delivered to this reported and stated plainly, "the decision to banish both Andromeda and Nymphadora from the family was a decision that was made based on moods going around at the time, but now times have changed, and more than ever house Black needs to come together if there is any hope of it surviving and returning to its strength once more.

Growing up an orphan I never knew my family, and now that I have finally found mine I'm not going to let poor decisions made in the heat of the moment keep what little family I have away, I understand that my house had a dark past but we can only move forward and leave such behind us. I will bring the most ancient and most noble house of Black back and restore it to its proper place and nothing will stand in my way."

Those were certainly some strong and passionate words from the new heir Black, but one has to wonder just what his plans will be, and just what the future for House Black will be, this reporter is certainly interested to see what is going to happen and will do his utmost to keep you up to date on any new developments involving the new heir Black and his plans for the most ancient and most noble house of Black.

For further information on Magnus's past please see page two

For further information on house Black please see page three

For further information on house Parker please see page four

For further information on the inherency laws please see page five

For further information on the banishment and reinstatement of Andromeda Tonks nee Black please see page six

For further information on… and the multiple topics just continued to list down the side of the page.

* * *

Magnus started to nod as he read down the list, there was nothing on it that he didn't give Ted the go ahead to hand over to them, and a quick glance told him that everything was in order, they had quoted word for word what he said, but he also took note of Lucius's statement, he knew that his status as an illegitimate son of the house might give some openings for arguments but he was certain he had everything covered, he would not risk losing the advantages of his position and the Black vault and all its contents.

Daphne looked up from reading her own copy and gave Magnus a curious look, "those are rather bold statements to make "bringing back House back" and "nothing will stand in your way", those will get you some attention, especially considering your first actions were to lift a banishment, some would say it looks more controversial than anything, like you're undoing previous lords decisions and going against them. Some of the more traditionalists will not like that."

Magnus nodded his head, "Aunt Andy told me as much, but I've had words with my grandparents portraits, and I was able to convince them both that Andromeda's banishment was too hasty, they now both agree with me on the matter so I have no problem debating the fact with any other traditionalist who thinks my actions are not what house Black needs. I think if I can argue Walburga Black into agreeing with me, I can do the same for most other."

Tracey gave a whistle, "My mother told be about her, meant to be a real battleaxe of a woman," she said before wincing, "no offence."

Magnus smirked, "None taken. From the conversation, I had with her before I was officially made heir Black gave me that impression, which only proves my point further. If I can make her realise it was a mistake, I can make others as well."

Daphne gave a small smirk, "I see, I hope to be there for one of those conversations" she said before their conversation was cut short as the small form of Professor Flitwick made his way down the table holding a number of rolls of parchment.

"Here are your class schedules miss Greengrass, miss Davis," the small Professor said handing them theirs, "and here's yours Mister Black, I trust everything is okay"

Magnus took his schedule and nodded, "Everything is fine Professor thank you" he said back.

Flitwick nodded, "Good, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask," he said before moving on.

Magnus turned back to the table and unrolled the parchment as he looked over the classes, the timetable was easy enough to follow, they had class in the mornings from nine until half past ten, and then a fifteen minute break before their next class from a quarter to eleven until one and then lunch from one until two and then classes again until a quarter past four and then free until dinner at six.

Looking over that days timetable Magnus could see that first the first year Ravenclaws were with the Hufflepuffs in Defence against the dark arts for the first period until half past ten, then after that they had history of magic with the Slytherins until eleven thirty and then free study period until lunch and then charms and transfiguration after lunch both times with the Gryffindors and then astronomy theory from three-thirty with the Slytherins.

"Looks like our first day is a full day but with a nice break in the middle of it all," Magnus said as he looked things over, "Defence and history before a study period before lunch,"

"Seems pretty straightforward," Daphne stated, "though I'm hoping my father was just joking about the history classes actually being taught by a ghost. From the way that he tells it the man only covers the goblin wars on repeat."

Magnus frowned, "I heard the same but the only way to know is to take the class and see" he said while internally he was starting to worry some, he knew from the books that it was, and if the fanfictions were to be believed then both the classes they had first were going to be utter mind numbing rubbish.

' _ **More time for you to plan and think then'**_ came the voice of Erebus in his head, ' _ **have you thought any more about my suggestion this morning, about taking up your uncles legacy, you know you want to'**_

Magnus smirked internally, ' _I haven't really had time to think on such, but the more I do the more I think I should, with a timetable like this I will have plenty of time for project planning'_

' _ **Oh?'**_ Erebus sounded happily in his head, ' _ **Hogwarts in never going to know what hit them'.**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, sorry that this has taken so long to get done and put up life has just been so hectic that I have found practically no time to write at all as of late, and when I do the words just don't want to flow for some reason, but I'm going to try my damndest to write more from now on.**

 **As it currently stands, this was as far as I had planned this fiction before I began writing things out, a rather dumb thing on my side of things but that was when things were flowing better for me, so I'm going to take a few weeks to really get planning and build up a large chapter stockpile before I start posting again on a more regular basis, I can see that a lot of people are enjoying this Fiction and that's something that as a writer makes me smile.**

 **As of this chapter we're just shy of two hundred reviews, and one thousand followers, that's great, also this fiction is now in seven communities, I can't tell you how much that means to me and I hope you all enjoy this latest chapter it's a little shorter than the others but not by a lot , now with that said, let's get to it, enjoy.**

* * *

 **Chapter seven- Apologies, emotions and changing tides**

 **Magnus POV- After classes**

It was with a groan that I left my second class of the day rubbing the bridge of my nose as I tried to suppress a growing headache that had been forming for the past two and a half hours. _'They can't actually be serious can they, this is what the best magical school in all of Britain has to offer, I don't know whether to be disappointed or embarrassed for them so far'_ I internally groaned, _'I can't believe I'm actually in agreement with some of the things my albino cousin says in the future, this place has gone to the dogs'_

"I thought that was never going to end," Daphne said with a pained expression to my left as we left the classroom, "I thought my father was joking when he told me about Professor Binns."

"I thought it was going to actually be beneficial learning history from a ghost," Tracey sighed from my right side, "But he just droned on and on, he didn't even stop to take questions."

I sighed and nodded my head in agreement, "Well at least it can only get better from here. Honestly, I don't think I could handle another two classes like our last two."

Daphne snorted, "Anything would be better than what we just had to listen to, I don't know what was worse, Binn's droning or Quirrell's impossible to understand stuttering"

"I'm not even sure my notes are even legible from Quirrell's class," Tracey said with annoyance, "I couldn't understand him half the time to take notes."

"Oh please don't remind me," I said as I rolled my eyes, "how that man can possibly teach defence against the dark arts, I don't know, he practically jumped out of his robes when that Hufflepuff girl dropped her book"

Daphne smirked, "Well that was kind of funny, but you're right. I don't understand how they can expect someone like that to teach that kind of subject, or any kind, to be frank, it looks like we'll have to do a lot of self-study to get good grades if these two classes are anything to go by on what to expect from the others."

I nodded again, I had thought that I already knew what to expect from Quirrell, but the man's stutter was much worse than I thought and his whole acting really was over the top and it just added more proof to my reasoning that there is no way that Dumbledore wasn't aware of the man's possession, no one is that pathetic

"I say we start up a small study group in our free time slots," I offered, "if things are really going to be as bad as this we need all the extra studying we can get if we even want any hope of passing the end of year exams."

"Agreed, but I say we give it a week," Daphne stated, "it will let us judge which classes we'll need to study for in our free time, right now we have two but there could be more."

Tracey groaned, "Let's hope not too many more, otherwise we're not going to have any free time to relax, a girl can only take so much."

I sighed, "Well if what I've heard about Professor Snape is true, then we can add potions to the list as well," I offered, "according to my cousin, who graduated last year, the potions master despises all other houses apart from his own, has a hatred for Gryffindors, and on top of being a bigoted teacher he has next to impossible standards, apparently he didn't accept anyone below an outstanding in their potion OWLs for his NEWT classes"

Tracey groaned again, "Crap, potions is my worst subject, I'm screwed"

Daphne shook her head, "Looks like our free time is going to really be pressed then if we'll have to study those three subject on the side if we want to make the grade. Let's hope none of our other lessons turn out the same. Maybe we can get a second year to make a study plan for what exactly we need to be studying for our exams, it would save us some time"

I nodded, "That's a good idea, I have another one that might work as well but I'm not sure," I explained, "I'll need to look some things up back in my room, I'll let you know later if my idea could work"

"Oh?" Daphne smirked, "was that what you were writing out while Binns was droning on, I saw you do up at least three sheets of parchment, want to fill us in?" she asked with clear curiosity in her tone.

I shook my head, "No that was something different, just clearing my head of ideas for different things, it helps me to put things down on paper to see things, I figured I might as well do something as we're not going to be learning anything listening to his droning."

Tracey giggled, "True, so what were you clearing your head of then, anything fun?" she asked with a tone equally as curious as to the blond on my left.

I smirked and shook my head, "No, just random thoughts for the future, nothing you need be concerned about, it's just a habit of mine" I said casually.

"I see, anything to do with Lord Malfoy's comments in the prophet this morning, those were some heavy accusations he put against you, are you going to do anything in response?" Daphne asked.

I nodded, "I will be later, I need to contact my law wizard to do so. What would you suggest my response be?" I asked as I glanced back to Daphne only to see the shocked look on her face.

"You're asking my opinion?" Daphne asked me, clearly shocked by my question before she cooled her expression, "Why?"

I shrugged as we continued to walk, "Well for one I haven't been in the wizarding world that long so I'm not entirely sure on what the appropriate response would be to something like that. I'd usually have my grandparents portraits to ask but since I can't at the moment I was hoping you'd have a suggestion. I thought that my earlier statement would be enough of a rebuttal but I'm not sure, I seem to recall my grandmother stating something about answering insults but I'm not overly sure about the best way to go about it."

Daphne seemed to nod to my statement, "Yes I forgot that you weren't raised in our world for a moment, that's another set of lessons we'll have to cover" she said before humming to herself, as I mentally groaned, "Well generally speaking insults that are just words are generally responded to in the same manner, your statement and the article proving your claim to the heirship disproves his insinuations and makes lord Malfoy look the fool. So there isn't really anything to answer back to this time, unless of course the house of Malfoy doesn't recognise their faux pas and apologise publicly, generally three days is the waiting time for something like that to avoid embarrassment, but if they don't most would demand right of satisfaction to get one, then one would have to be given or an honour duel would be the result, and then the loser would have to back down, if house Malfoy lost that then not only would they have the embarrassment of the lost but would still have to openly apologize and recognise their faux pas"

I listened intently and started to nod, "I see, I seem to recall something about honour duels," I said as I remember them from the various fictions I had read about them, along with some of the things I had read in the Black family library, "am I right in assuming that I could call for another to fight in my sted given that I don't have any experience duelling?"

Daphne nodded again, "Yes, it's called choosing a champion, usually its when either party can not fight for themselves. Insults to a house are usually fought between the current lords, or a member of the house is chosen to fight if the lord cannot. Champions can also be outside of the house or an allied house but it's very rare as most don't like to get involved with houses other than their own"

"So I would have to duel lord Malfoy then or my champion would if it went to an honour duel?" I asked as I frowned a little, duelling a death eater this early wasn't what I had in mind I didn't have enough duelling practice under my belt yet to try anything like that.

Daphne shook her head, "No honour duels can be fought between heirs as well, so you could face Draco if you wanted to, but he could pass the challenge to his father and then it would be up to you if you wanted to continue or choose a champion instead, though if Lord Malfoy accepted the challenge it would look very poorly on him for doing so considering your age, but I wouldn't put it past him, my father has had dealings with him in the past and he's the kind to do things like that regardless of the image it presents."

I nodded, "I see, thanks for the info, I'll have to do a bit more research before I go any further into the matter, I'll contact my law wizard to ask his advice on the matter" I thanked her as we continued to walk on.

We weren't far now from the grand hall where most of us were heading, we had just over two hours of a free period before our next class which was charms with the Gryffindors, I was actually looking forward to it, as it would give me an opportunity to observe the golden trio in class. I figured that seeing as I was already on the old man's radar now there was no point in trying to fly under it. I may as well see what I can do to shake things up a little, as long as I didn't mess with anything major I figured things would remain on track.

* * *

 **Scene break- Author POV- the great hall**

After another couple of minutes of walking the trio of Ravenclaws had finally navigated the staircase and made their way down and into the great hall followed by a couple of their year-mates.

Upon entering the great hall Magnus gave the tables a quick once over to see who was there, and he smiled slightly as he spotted Harry Potter sitting at the Gryffindor table.

' _Hmmm, well no time like the present,'_ Magnus thought to himself before glancing over to Daphne and Tracey, "Hey, I'm just going to go and have a quick word with someone at the Gryffindor table, I'll catch up with you both after."

Daphne raised an eyebrow at the statement, "Oh, who are you…" she began to ask as she glanced up the Gryffindor table before stopping as she spotted Harry as well, "Potter?" she said softly, "What are you planning?"

Magnus shrugged, "Don't know yet, figured an apology for the part my uncle played in his parent's deaths is a good place to start, if he still wants anything to do with me after that then I'll see."

Daphne nodded, "I suppose that would be ideal if you want to start changing people's opinion of House Black. Alright, we'll be watching from the Ravenclaw table, hope things go well" she said before she and Tracey broke off from their group and moved towards the table with the other claws.

After they were gone Magnus took a deep breath and sighed as he tried to relax his breathing before he started forward heading towards Harry. Internally he knew he actually didn't have to apologize for Sirius's actions given that the man was actually innocent, but he also knew that to the rest of the magical world at that time the man was guilty, the fact that he didn't even have a trial didn't even seem to matter. But right now public opinion was all that really mattered and in the eyes of the public Sirius Black a member of his house, regardless of his banishment, had betrayed house Potter and a matter such as that needed to be addressed and his stance on the matter made clear if he was ever going to improve house Black's standings in the eyes of the rest of the magical community.

Coming up just shy of Harry, Magnus cleared his throat as he spoke, "Harry Potter," he said as Harry turned to him as he spoke his name and his eyes seemed to widen when he saw him in recognition, "I was hoping that we…" Magnus began to say before he was interrupted by a certain red-headed boy who was sitting on the other side of Harry.

"What do you want traitor!" Weasley snapped as he rose up from his seat.

Magnus eyes instantly went to Weasley with a narrowed glare, "I do not believe I was addressing you, Weasley," he said with a small amount of annoyance in his tone before looking back to Harry, "as I was saying before I was interrupted, I was hoping that I might have a moment of your time to talk about some delicate matters."

Before Harry even got a chance to speak, Weasley once again butted in, "Why would he want to talk to you Black? Everyone knows your family's dark, and are nothing but traitors! What trying to finish what your uncle started!?"

The entire hall had fallen dead silent as the confrontation had started with Weasley's opening statement, while his second one drew gasps and whispered mutterings around those in the room.

Harry for his part was looking at Magnus with a conflicted expression on his face. He wasn't sure what to make of things entirely, last night Ron had told him about how his parents had been betrayed by their best friend at the time and that had lead to their deaths. He had been angry at the fact that someone they saw as their friend had betrayed them and this alone had made him wary about Magnus. The way Magnus had rebutted Malfoy at first made him think he wasn't all that bad, he hadn't been pompous like Draco, but at the same time, he didn't have much of an interaction with the other boy to really judge him.

Magnus, upon hearing the statement turned his attention back to Weasley with a heated glare. While Magnus had been expecting some form of confrontation with the redhead, but the blunt accusation was not what he was expecting, and while he could use his occlumency to control himself, the anger that boiled up inside him wanted him to lash out at the boy.

The combination of his knowledge of Sirius's innocents, alongside the new childlike desires for a family that he was feeling, made him want to rebut the boy and declare his uncle's innocents. And it was with great difficulty that Magnus used all his occlumency restraint to keep from doing so at that very moment so as not to cause a scene.

But that still didn't keep some of the anger he felt from showing on his face as he glared at the redhead as his brown eyes turned red in his anger before he spoke.

"Kindly keep your trap shut Weasley unless you want to face me in an honour duel for insults rendered to the house of Black," Magnus said in a growling statement that caused the entire hall to fall silent and for the redhead's eye to widen seeing the red-eyed glare he was getting, while Magnus may not have wanted to risk facing a death eater like Malfoy so early he was betting on Ronald's pig-headed arrogance to take the challenge himself if it came down to it, and he was certain he would be more than a match for the pathetic excuse for a wizard, though it looked as though his little eye change had been enough to scare the boy off from saying anything further.

Magnus took a moment to close his eyes and let out a breath as he tried to steady his emotions before once more opening his eyes as the red faded from them as his eyes returned to normal, "I am quite aware of the actions of my uncle, and what those actions lead to. I do not need for you to remind me of the shame that my uncle brought upon my house by his traitorous actions." Magnus said as he felt his guts knot, feeling like absolute shit for saying such things about Sirius. "But that is exactly what I have come here to apologize for," he added getting another round of whispers from the tables around them before he turned his attention from the shocked Weasley to the one he wanted to talk to.

"Harry Potter," Magnus stated as he looked at the boy, "I, on behalf of the house of Black, and myself, offer you our apologies for the actions of my former uncle. Neither I or the remaining members of the house of Black condone his actions. If he hadn't already been banished from the family because of his previous decisions then I would have already seen it done. Though I have never personally met the man, his actions in betraying your parents and his obligations and vows prove to me that he isn't worthy of my house and the values I hold." Magnus said with as much composure as he could muster through his gut was still knotting, "I can only ask that you do not hold the rest of House Black or myself responsible for the actions of one of us, we are responsible for our own actions not those of our misguided relatives."

Feeling as though he was about to be sick if he continued any more, and not waiting for an answer, Magnus turned and exited the hall with a brisk pace, his gut tightening with every step.

Seconds after he'd left the hall, the whispers started up once more growing in volume as they talked about what they had all just witnessed.

At the Ravenclaw table, both Tracey and Daphne shared a look at each other and rose from the table at the same time and quickly started after Magnus both wanting to make sure he was okay.

Meanwhile, at the Gryffindor table, Harry sat even more conflicted than before. He hadn't been expecting that. He hadn't been expecting that at all. For Magnus to apologize for his uncle's role in his parent's death. He wanted to be angry at him, for even trying to apologize for it, an apology wasn't going to bring his parents back.

But he felt himself cringe when he thought about blaming Magnus for what his uncle did, he knew that he would never want to be blamed for anything that his aunt, uncle or cousin did. And he suddenly felt a pan of anger towards the redhead beside him for his harsh words and insults towards Magnus when the boy had come to apologize to him.

Ronald for his part sat down after Magnus had left sat down in a huff, "Bloody traitor, who does he think he is," the redhead grumbled before looking to Harry and put his hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry mate, I've got your back, next time that Black shows up, we'll show him."

Harry clenched his fists at the statement as he felt his anger rise as he fought back from yelling, he didn't want to risk his new friendship with Ron but at the same time he felt that his friend was well out of line by what he has said to Magnus, "Why did you do that? He was just coming over to apologise?" Harry asked him looking at his so-called friend.

Ronald looked shocked at the sudden question, "Well why wouldn't I? He's a Black, they're all dark, just because he's not in Slytherin doesn't mean he can be trusted, he's just trying to pull something on you, trying to get close to you just like his uncle did to your folks"

"But you heard him, he's never even met his uncle, so how could he be anything like a man he's never met, you shouldn't judge people just because of their family," Harry said as he stood up having come to a decision then and there.

Ronald looked taken back by that statement as Harry stood up, "Hey where are you going?" he asked as he went to get up as well.

"To talk to Magnus, don't follow me. If you can't see how wrong you are I don't want you as my friend," Harry said as he walked away leaving a stunned and gaping Ronald at the table.

* * *

 **Scene break- Magnus POV**

I stumbled down one of the corridors in the castle as I took deep breaths, the twisting in my stomach was starting to settle down, but it didn't stop me being concerned with just what was happening to me. I had been concerned ever since the meeting with Dumbledore, about these sudden bursts of feelings I didn't know what was going on with me with these feeling suddenly coming to a head at the most inopportune times.

I had experienced some small forms of them over the past month, but they had been small, when I was with Tonks or Aunt Andy, a warmness in my chest, happiness that made me smile and laugh whenever something was funny, like a child would do in a similar situation.

But now it was starting to affect me at the worst times, I did not want Dumbledore to know of my metamorph skills this early on, and because of my emotional slip and subsequent loss of control he does. And now, back in the hall I was literally a seconds away from losing control when Weasley started on me, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to learn those more harmful spells this early on, _'part of me wanted to see the weasels face if I was to cast the internal freezing curse on him, to watch as he froze from the inside out.'_

I shivered at the thought, I had only read about that in one of the many books in the Black library, I had yet to try it out, but I had been very tempted to make Weasley my test subject to see its effects first hand.

I groaned as I came to a stop down a corridor and slumped against the wall rubbing my forehead as I felt the anger at his words boil up again, _'How dare that ginger-fuckwit think to call my uncle a traitor when he's got the real traitor in his fucking dorm room as his pet fucking rat.'_

I clenched my fists in anger, it would be so easy to just go to the Gryffindor common room and march up there and take that rat bastard Pettigrew and turn him over the DMLE. Of course, that would be after I had the pleasure of testing some of my harmful spells on him for some retribution of my own first. I knew the password for the common room from the movies, after all, the little bastard wouldn't even know what hit him.

' _No…'_ taking several deep breaths I brought up my occlumency barriers and pulled my emotions back as I did my best to calm down. I knew why I couldn't do that, because people would ask questions, like how I knew where Pettigrew was, and on top of that I didn't know how it would affect things if I threw Pettigrew into the spotlight right now, with how Minister Fudge reacted when it happened in the original storyline he could very well try to cover it up as he did then and have Pettigrew swept under the rug and deny things given how bad things would be for him if it was shown that a pureblood wizard was thrown into Azkaban without a trial. Which when you think about it, was the whole reason he was so heavy-handed by sending dementors to Hogwarts and put the kiss on sight order on Sirius when he broke out, it was all an attempt to cover things up.

No, I needed to be patient, wait until Ted was able to tell me without a shadow of a doubt that there are no trial transcripts on file proving there was never a trial, he had already spent a full month looking but because he was doing so carefully and on his own so as not to arouse suspicion it was taking time to do. I suspected I would have word on the matter within the next month or the month after that, and then I could possibly start readying things to bring to the DMLE and Wizengamot so I could use the weight of house Black to demand an immediate trial and investigation. As soon as I was certain that I had all the information, proof, and no way for anyone to block me I was going to make my move, for now, I would just have to bite my tongue and not let my emotions give away any more of my secrets.

With my emotions once again in check I pushed myself off the wall and was about to start navigating myself back to the Ravenclaw common room to try I get some practice in when I heard the sound of footfalls coming from the direction I just came. I turned to see both Daphne and Tracey coming towards me.

"Magnus, are you okay?" Daphne asked as they reached me, some signs of concern on her face.

"You left the hall in a hurry, we were worried," Tracey added with similar signs of concern, a tad more so than Daphne.

I sighed, of course they had followed me, "I'm fine, I just needed to get out of there before I hexed Weasley, I had expected some confrontation but I guess I didn't expect that much, his words got to me more than they should have" I explained, "I just needed some time to get my mental barriers back in place so I wouldn't send him to the hospital wing"

Daphne gave a small snort, "well I hardly think anyone would have blamed you if you had, he was severely out of line, he had no business coming between you and Potter like that, you'd think his parents would have taught him better" she rolled her eyes.

Tracey snorted, "I wanted to hex him myself for you when I heard him. If it wasn't for my own mental barriers I would have," she grumbled.

I gave a smirk, "yeah well now he's gone and put me off my lunch, I was just about to head back to the dorms and do some reading, you two want to tag along?" I asked offering.

Daphne smirked, "sure why not, but the library is closer to here than the dorms, let's head there, I've been wanting to see if its everything my mother said it was."

I nodded and the three of us started down the corridor in search of the library, but we hadn't even gotten to the end of the corridor we were in before we heard the sound of more footfalls, I didn't think anything of it until a familiar voice called down the corridor after us, "Magnus!"

I turned with Daphne and Tracey and there was Harry coming down the corridor towards us, all four foot of him, he was rather short for his age now that I think about it, and I frowned when I remembered the reason why, the Dursleys treatment of him, and I added another thing to my list of todos, see if there was any way to get Harry out of that house and out from under Dumbledore's thumb.

"Potter," I said as I turned to face him, "something I can help you with?" I asked wanting to know why he came after me, I had a few guesses but wasn't sure.

"Your apology earlier, I accept it" Harry said catching his breath, he must have run all the way here, "what you said before about not wanting to be blamed for something your relative did, I know how that feels, I just wanted you to know that I don't, blame you for what he did, it's like you said you aren't your uncle, it would be stupid to blame you for what someone else did."

I smiled feeling the last of the knot fade away from my gut and sighed, "thank you, Potter,, you have no idea how much of a relief that is to hear you say that, after Weasley's comments earlier I feared that you might hold the same views" I said with relief, this was going better than I had hoped.

Harry seemed to frown, "I'm sorry about Ron, I don't know why he said those things, you're not your uncle after all." he said in apology.

I shook my head, "Don't apologize for him Potter, there's no point as Weasley clearly meant what he said so your apology would just be empty words, he has to apologize for it to mean something, not you" I said not wanting to think any more on what the hot head had said as I could already feel some of the anger inside me stirring when I thought about him and what he had said, only I was pulled from that feeling when I heard the clearing of voices behind me and smirked slightly, "Oh of course where are my manner" I said before gesturing behind me, "Potter these lovely ladies are my friends, Heiress Daphne Greengrass, heiress primary of the most noble and most ancient house of Greengrass, and Heiress Tracey Davis, heiress secondary to the noble and most ancient house of Davis" I introduced them only to get an owlish response from Harry as he blinked at the three of us, clearly not knowing what to make of what I had just said.

"Um… okay," Harry said clearly bewildered as he looked at us.

Daphne gave a snort at his look, "what's with that look Potter, you look as though you don't have a clue in the world" she stated with an amused tone.

"Um yeah, I was raised by my…. Relatives, in the muggle world, I don't have a clue about what all this House or Heiress stuff means sorry" Harry stated as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Both Tracey and Daphne just looked at him with looks of shock on their faces and I sighed, "I suspected as much," I openly stated getting looks from all three of them and so I decided to elaborate, "when you didn't immediately take Malfoy's hand when he was introducing himself to you, I had a suspicion that you weren't knowledgeable about the magical world and our customs so I stepped in just to be sure before you could end up making things hard on yourself" I stated.

Harry just looked at me confused, "what do you mean, he was just offering me his hand, I was going to politely tell him to get lost, not take it" he explained as he got wide-eyed looks from both Daphne and Tracey, he looked to them, "what?"

I sighed, "Potter, refusing a wizards hand when offered is just about the worst insult you can give them, especially when that hand is offered by a lord or Heir apparent of a magical house. By openly refusing it you basically stating that they are so far under you that it isn't even worth your time to shake his hand, it is a slap to the face of house Malfoy and every one of their allies to do so, so by refusing his hand you would have not just made one enemy but several families worth, not to mention the insult directed to mine and your grandmother's side of the family tree" I said, letting that little bit of information slip on purpose to get Harry's attention.

Harry was looking wide-eyed at me looking even more worried the whole time I was explaining how his one mistake could have made his life a lot more troublesome over something so small, but all that seemed to fall to second place when he heard my final statement, "we're… we're related?" he asked as shock covered his face.

I smirked and nodded, "Oh yes, your father's mother, Dorea Potter was Dorea Black before she married your grandfather, so that makes us second cousins" I smirked, "though sorry to say but it also means your related to Malfoy to the same extent as his mother was also a Black before she married into the Malfoy family"

I studied Harry's face as I finished my little explanation and I could see him practically go green at the thought of being related to Malfoy but I could also see some look of hope in his eyes when he looked at me that made me smile and I put my hand on his shoulder, "sorry but you know what they say, you can't choose your family" I smirked making him chuckle in response as he looked down and I could hear him mutter under his tone, "I have family" making me smile.

Though our little moment was short lived when Daphne broke us up when she cleared her throat, "um not to break up this little moment or anything but there are more important matters that need to take priority here, like how Potter has just admitted that he knows nothing about magical houses and all that that entails" she stated rather urgently as Tracey nodded.

I sighed and nodded as I took my hand off Harry's shoulder as he looked at us all with confusion evident on his face, "why would I need to know any of that stuff," he asked clearly confused as all hell.

I looked at him with pity as I mentally cursed Dumbledore for his meddling and placing Harry with the Dursleys and keeping him so ignorant, given all the time I've been spending learning all I know about what is required of an heir and future lord of a house like ours I can see why it would be beneficial to start learning at a much younger age, it's only coming easier to me because I have the mind of an adult inside the body of a child, it's going to be much harder on Harry to play catch up with all the stuff he will have to know, if he doesn't when he comes of age he's going to be thrown in the deep end with sharks and told to swim, it would be a political bloodbath.

"Potter…. Harry, if I may" I requested before clearing my throat, "your father James Potter, was from a pureblood house, the Most Noble and Most ancient house of Potter, a house of the same prestige and with roots just as far back as the House of Black and the House of Greengrass" I explained, "your father was, before he died, Lord Potter, and you as his only son, and the last Potter, are his heir, the heir apparent to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and the Potter fortune, and when you turn seventeen you will become Lord Potter, head of house Potter" I explained dropping it all at once, no sense in letting it go easy at this point.

Harry just stood there gaping at me and looked to Daphne and Tracey before looking back to me, "t-this is a joke right, I-I can't become a Lord, I'm Harry… just Harry" he said clearly in shock and denial.

I shook my head, "sorry Harry, but it's true, if it helps I'm in the same boat as you, a month ago I didn't know about the magical world or about my family, and I've spent the past month learning about them and my future responsibilities as Lord Black," I smirked.

Harry swallowed hard as he looked at me as I saw the same look of hope in eyes as I did before but then Daphne spoke up again.

"Like it or not Potter its your responsibility, House Potter is one of the oldest magical houses with a seat in the Wizengamot, like Magnus said it is just as old as both his house and mine, as such it has acquired a large amount of voting power over the years and if you refuse to accept your responsibility you are letting not only your ancestors down but doing a great disservice to the entire magical community at large" Daphne stated firmly and passionately making me look to her, I guess the thought of some such responsibilities being ignored struck a chord with her.

"B-But I wouldn't even know where to start, I just found out a month ago that I was a wizard, and now you're all saying that when I turn seventeen that I'm going to be an important lord" Harry clearly starting to worry more and more.

I put my hand on his shoulder again, "Harry, calm down, you don't have to take up your responsibilities for another six years, you have time to learn, same as me, I've got your back cousin" I smiled trying to reassure him.

I watched as Harry took several deep breaths nodding as he tried to calm himself down and I nodded in approval, he was honestly taking it better than I thought he would and I mentally patted myself on the back, this should throw a wrench into some things in the future.

I looked over to see Tracey looking on in approval as well, but Daphne had a worried look in her eye I could tell that she was thinking about something worrisome, I made a mental note to talk with her later, I was still learning everything about the magical world, chances are she's likely thought of something that I haven't yet.

Turning my attention back to Harry I patted his shoulder, "listen, me Daphne and Tracey will be holding regular study groups starting next week after we've gone through our first week of lessons, we're… not to impressed by the current standard of some of the classes and are going to study up on our own, plus the girls are going to help to pick up the lessons that I'll need for when I become Lord Black, you're more than welcome to join us seeing as you're in the same boat as me in that regard" I offered him.

I watched as he let out a breath that was clearly a sigh of relief as he nodded, "yeah, thanks, I think I will, it would be a huge help if I'm going to be a lord someday like you all are saying" he smiled.

I nodded in approval, "good, glad to have you"

Harry smiled at me before looking down seeming to think for a moment before looking back to me, "um listen, could you maybe... Tell me more about my family, you seem to know more about them than I do, and I'd like to know if I have any more cousins that are gonna come out of the woodwork" he asked rather embarrassed.

I chuckled, "sure thing Harry, come on let's go to find somewhere to chat, we've got a couple hours before we have classes again" I said as I began to lead him down the corridor before looking back to Daphne and Tracey, "I'll catch up with you two later, see you both in Charms, raincheck on the library?"

Both of them nodded back to me as we walked on, but I still noticed a worried look in Daphne's eyes, yes I would definitely have to talk with her later on.

* * *

 **Hogwarts Headmasters office**

Dumbledore sat behind his desk stroking his beard, now to most who would look at him would think that he was just pondering over some idle thoughts, but in truth, he was concerned with more pressing matters, the twinkle in his eye dimmed as he was deep in thought about certain events as of late.

The young Black heir was a piece he hadn't planned for, though the boy seemed to be nothing like some of the past members of his family, he seemed just like any orphan boy his age. But at the same time, Dumbledore didn't like it when pieces came out of the blue like this, but nevertheless, he would press on with his plans. He would just have to remain cautious, while the boy hadn't been placed in the snake den like so many of his house before him, a Ravenclaw placement was still troublesome, those of that house had often proven to be difficult for the headmaster to read and the Black heir would prove to be no exception, especially with Andromeda Tonks watching the boys back.

Albus couldn't help but scowl slightly as he cursed the meddlesome woman, she never trusted him even when she was a student at Hogwarts, it was so unfortunate that the woman had managed to gain guardianship of the boy before Albus had found out about his heritage, the Black fortune and the Black votes would have made a large difference to Albus's reach in the magical world, it would mean that the dark would have had even less influence in future Wizengamot sessions with the Black votes now out of the Malfoys reach, but now that Andromeda had control over her families votes again Albus knew that would spell trouble, the woman would likely just vote in opposition of whatever his own party voted for which was going to spell trouble for any future legislation he might wish to try and pass through others.

Alas there was nothing he could do about that matter for the time being, Andromeda had proven in the past that she was capable of looking out for a child, her daughter Nymphadora was testament to that a trainee Aurora and if what his old friend Moody told him, a promising one at that, if a little young. So there would be no way that he would be able to call her guardianship of the boy into question, even if he had, the boy seemed to like the woman and if Albus tried to remove her influence the boy might turn against him for it, taking away his new found family… no, for the time being, he wouldn't pursue the matter and just watch, for now, he needed more information before he could decide what he needed to do.

At least the boy was proving to be somewhat interesting, and nothing like his ancestors, proving so by actually apologizing for the actions of his uncle to young Harry in the events that lead up to the deaths of his parents, Albus hadn't been there but Minerva had been and reported the events to him soon after sounding rather impressed with the young black heir and Albus had to admit that it did show great strength of character to do such, even though he knew the truth that the gesture was empty as Sirius had next to nothing to do with the death of the Potters, but nevertheless it showed Albus that the boy clearly wasn't like the rest of his family, perhaps there would prove to be an opportunity to bring the boy into the light side, in an effort to redeem his families past transgressions.

A small smile graced the old man's lips as things began to fall into place, yes he could use this to his advantage, the light would need all the allies that he would be able to get when Voldemort returned, but for now his plan was running smoothly, the traps would be complete by Christmas and the stone would be placed there soon after, for now all that was left to do was wait until things began to fall into place as they always did, all according to his plans.

Leaning forward in his chair Albus opened the top drawer of his desk and reached inside taking out the ruby red stone as he sat back in his chair and gazed at it, the twinkle returning back to his eye slightly as he looked at it with a small amount of satisfaction, oh how he wished that he had attained the stone years ago, but his old friend and mentor refused to part with it and refused completely to share his notes on its creation, and as much as he had tried in the past Albus was unable to replicate the stone even in the slightest it was most vexing.

But now that he had it in his possession at long last he could finally study it and learn its secrets to create one for himself. He had until Christmas to do so, but if for some reason he should fail too, Albus already had a back up plan in mind, he would simply tell his old friend that the stone was sadly destroyed when the dark lord tried to steal it and simply keep it for himself and wait until time caught up with his old friend before taking the elixir and returning his own youth.

For sure the "destruction" of the stone would lose him Nicholas's friendship but it was a small sacrifice for a much greater gain, the old man had been living far too long, and it was time for him to move on, the man never followed his advice like the rest of the masses so it would prove to be the removal of a thorn long in his side.

With a final longing glance at the stone, Albus placed it back in the top drawer of his desk before closing it, and there it would stay until the traps were complete. As much as he wanted to keep it longer and not have it leave his office at all, Albus couldn't take the chance of placing a fake stone in its place, Voldemort would know immediately if he did so and he couldn't take the risk of him fleeing before his confrontation with young Harry, he needed to test his pawn to make sure that he would do what was needed, alas this was the only way, it was for the greater good.

* * *

 **Ministry of Magic- Archives**

Edward "Ted" Tonks, always prided himself on his patience and the control he exerted over his temper, both had served him well in his time as an aurora whether it was waiting long hours on a stakeout to catch an illegal potions sale or restraining himself from cursing some bastard who rightly deserved it, but at this moment both of those traits were reaching their limits.

Ever since he had taken up this task of searching for the files about Sirius's trial, doing so subtly, he had encountered problem after problem, he had never encountered so much red tape before in his life when he was just trying to obtain one blasted file, but every time he went looking he hit another wall and it was starting to grate on his last nerves, he wanted to hex that snobby little git at the reception desk who was no help at all, it was his job to go in search of the files that he needed but clearly he had no intention of doing so, and after three weeks of sending off requests for the files, indirectly so as not to arouse attention, he had finally had enough and came down to the archives to get them himself.

That was what was grating on his nerves at this very moment, he had never seen a place in such disarray, there was no order to things whatsoever and as the archives was a magic-free area he couldn't just use magic to summon the file to him, oh no, he had to go through everything by hand, which is what he had been doing for the past week, and why he was halfway ready to just cast a bombarda at the next person to piss him off when he finally found what he was looking for.

The case box labelled with Sirius's name, looking over the dates on the box everything lined up and Ted reached up to take the box down and finally get a read at the court transcripts and review the evidence that had been presented at his court hearing but the second he lifted the box a look of concern crossed his face, the boy was way too light, normally that wouldn't have been anything of concern, most of the boxes we enchanted to be featherweight and with undetectable expansion charms on them to store all the evidence involved in a case, but Ted knew from what he had heard about Sirius's arrest that he had been arrested at the scene of Peter Pettigrew's murder, there would have been no real major evidence that would have required the use of the charm on the box.

Bringing it down quickly Ted took off the lid and his eyes went wide at what was inside, a single folder, that was it, nothing else, no evidence, no trial transcripts nothing, and the file looked to be paper thin maybe only two or three sheets, this was not all that should have been in here for a case this big.

Taking the folder out and letting the box drop Ted quickly opened it and began to read through its contents, it was the arrest report on Sirius for that night… and that was it, it only confirmed what he already knew from word of mouth that Sirius had been arrested minutes after following the murder of Peter Pettigrew, and that was it, nothing else, no witness reports, no interview transcripts from when he was in custody, not even a signed confession.

This confirmed Teds worst fear, Sirius Black, the suspected traitor to the Potters and the murderer of Peter Pettigrew, had been sent to Azkaban and had been there for ten years, without ever having received a trail.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello one and all, sorry for the delay in this update, I know I've been slacking off but life has been really hectic for ages now and I'm trying to push hard to get more chapters finished for all of you to enjoy.**

 **And to that effect, in case anyone isn't aware, I have recently started up a Twitter account for my Fanfictions a few months back, and I post to it regularly with updates and various other things involving my fanfictions so if you want to keep up to date on this and any of my other fictions be sure to follow me. The link is on my author profile.**

* * *

 **Chapter eight - A change in the waters**

It was the end of classes that day that Magnus found himself sitting in his trunks office behind his desk, mirror in hand, with a pensive look on his face as he was deep in thought about what he had just heard.

Never had he thought that it would have been this fast for things to turn in his favour, and yet that was what Ted had just gotten through telling him. There were no records at all for Sirius's trial, which was a pretty good indicator that he never had one in the first place.

He wanted to grin openly like a mad man and start to laugh and dance around, but he would keep that for another time, right now he needed to make sure of this, he could not mess this up.

"And you are absolutely sure of this, no sign of them whatsoever,?" Magnus asked looking concerned, a feeling of hope rising in his chest.

On the reflective surface of the mirror Ted's image nodded back, "I checked and double-checked again after I found the first box, in case there was a second box with the records misplaced somewhere. There was no sign of them." he said firmly before sighing, "I can't believe that the ministry has been this careless. If this means what I think it does then we have just stumbled over a cover-up and Sirius has been imprisoned for over a decade now, an innocent man in that hell on earth."

Magnus nodded, "my uncle," he said frowning his hand unintentionally gripping the handle of the mirror tighter as he felt his emotions rise up, "my family." he spoke his voice sounding hurt and it wasn't faked. He could feel his chest tighten at the thought of his family, Magnus' family, being locked up in that hell, it hurt.

Ted's image scoffed as he hears the tone and he sighed, "Don't worry Magnus, we'll get him out and get to the bottom of this. I'm going to be filing for Sirius's immediate release as soon as the offices open in the morning."

Magnus' eyes widened, "no, not yet!" he said in a hurry making Ted look at him in shock.

"But, Magnus he's your family, if he's innocent. We need to get him out of there, family or not no.." Ted began to go off on a rant, his years as an Auror coming to the front and his sense of right and wrong showing through. Before Magnus cut him off.

"I know that Ted," Magnus spoke firmly, "what I meant was that you can't go and run headfirst into this without more backing. Even with House Blacks' backing we'll need more support," he explained, "From what I've heard about our current minister, Fudge is the kind of man who cares about his image more than doing his actual job. If you go marching in there and proclaim that the ministry has condemned an innocent man to prison, a member of House Black nonetheless, he will do everything in his power to sweep this under the rug and the people will back him because to everyone else they believe the same, that Sirius guilty."

Ted frowned but nodded nonetheless, he hadn't considered that angle of things, Fudge would no doubt do anything to prevent even a smear against the ministry while he was in office, and that pet toad of his, Umbridge, would do the same if she even suspected that they were going to do something that would make the ministry look bad in any way.

"What do you suggest then? Do you have someone in mind?" Ted asked, curious to know what Magnus' plans were, from what he'd seen of him Magnus wasn't the kind to voice an idea without having already put some, if not a lot of thought into it. It could be quite scary at times seeing an eleven-year-old boy talk like an adult, and he worried what Magnus would be like as an adult, he would be a monster in politics.

Magnus nodded, "I do. Madam Bones, the head of the DMLE. If we get her behind us she'd be a powerful ally to have in getting Sirius free from that hellhole" he explained, "from what little I've heard of her, she's a harsh but fair woman, she should at the very least hear you out if you asked for a meeting."

Ted brought his hand to his face to scratch his stubble as he thought and nodded, "you're right about Bones, the woman's made of iron and will come down on anyone hard if she thinks they're up to something they shouldn't be. I served with her when we were both Auror recruits. She can hold herself in a fight." he mused before nodding, "I should be able to get a meeting with her, it would likely take a couple of weeks if I was someone else, she's a busy woman, but she has a soft spot for retired Aurors, I might be able to cut it down to a couple of days at the most"

Magnus nodded, "what do you think the chances are of her believing and backing us?" he asked.

Ted shrugged, "about fair to be honest. As you said, she'd hear me out in the meeting and will take in all the facts that are presented to her. While we have no actual evidence of your uncles innocents, the lack of a trial transcript and the other paperwork should speak for themselves. At the very most we can expect her to help us in getting Sirius a proper trial and if he's innocent it will come out."

Magnus nodded, "good, that would probably be the best outcome, if there was never any trial at all then people could just claim that it was a technicality, but if he's tried and found innocent then no one can claim otherwise."

Ted nodded, "yes that would be for the best then" he agreed before yawning, "right I'll let you get on off to bed, I'm sure you'll need your sleep for your classes tomorrow, goodnight Magnus"

Magnus nodded back, "goodnight Ted," he said as the image on the mirror faded and he placed it down on the desk with a sigh as he reached up to rub his brow, sitting back in his chair.

' _Well this will certainly be throwing canon out the window if everything goes through, Sirius getting freed two years before his escape, I wonder how the magical populace will react once he's announced as innocent'_ Magnus mused in his head, ' _I wonder what else will come to light with this, I can't imagine that Sirius will be happy with the old coot for letting him rot in Azkaban without a trial for all these years,'_ he thought with a chuckle.

Erebus bristled his feathers from his perch across the room ' _ **Don't go counting your hatchlings until they hatch, Magnus'**_ he warned. _**`You never know what could happen. You may have knowledge of the future but you are treading out into unknown waters now, be careful or else you may attract sharks or something worse'**_

Magnus sighed, "technically speaking, I've always been in unknown waters, my very presence in this world will have altered things from the original, all that butterfly effect and shit. I've just been trying to keep them as small as possible so that the future won't drastically change and my knowledge will still be relevant to what is going to happen" he explained, "I must have spent hours in my mind trying to plot every possible change my presence here might have effected in the future and account for them all but there's just too many of them to account for, the future is going no matter what I do, and this will just be tossing a huge rock into the waters" he said before throwing his hands up, "fuck it, if this changes everything then I may as well give up on trying to predict the future. I was going to be changing things for the better anyway might as well start now. I'll stop trying to predict things and just roll with the punches before throwing back some of my own" he smirked.

' _ **Are you sure that is wise? If you stir the waters too much then something could happen that you might not be able to predict, people might find out that you are not originally from this world, it could have disastrous consequences for you'**_ Erebus warned

Magnus shrugged, "I'll be doing my best to keep my origins under wraps. My occlumency is coming along well so soon enough no one will be able to pull it from my mind, and I'll do my best not to get called up to testify for anything to be dosed with veritaserum any time soon, and asked where I'm from" he mused, "I'll be changing things, but I'll be careful not to give anyone reason to suspect that I'm not from here" he said before looking to the mirror on his desk.

"And I think I know just where to start making changes to the canon" Magnus smirked before he reached over and picked up the mirror, he had a call to make, it was time to start stirring things up.

* * *

 **Time skip**

It was the next morning at the breakfast table that Magnus had a smile on his face, looking forward to what he knew was going to be happening that day after his mirror call the night before.

Daphne who was sitting at the table across from him gave him a puzzled look, "what's got you so happy this morning? You look like you've just won a million galleons."

Magnus chuckled, "I have no idea what you are talking about Daphne, can't a guy just look happy on this wonderful morning." he smiled back.

Daphne gave him a deadpan look, "there's happy and then there's that maniacal grin that you have on your face," she said not buying his reason for an instant, "now spill it what did you do?"

Magnus smirked, "okay, okay." he said putting up his hands in a gesture of surrender, "if you must know I was up late last night and I think I finally figured out the solution to one of our class problems, potions to be precise" he smirked.

Tracey chuckled from beside Daphne, "what? Did you think of a way to get Snape fired? Sorry to say but I've heard that Dumbledore has refused to fire him despite the multitude of complaints against him, you'll have to think of something else." she joked.

Magnus laughed, "oh no, but that was my first thought. No, I've thought up another way that's just as good in my opinion" he stated with a smirk.

However, before either girl could ask what the idea was. The doors to the great hall opened wide and Andromeda Tonks walked into the great hall, led by Professor Flitwick, and upon seeing them, Magnus' grin doubled in size as he watched them make their way over towards them.

"Mr Black," Professor Flitwick addressed Magnus as the pair of them reached him, "your aunt has.." he began to say only to be cut off as headmaster Dumbledore along with Professors Mcgonnagal and Snape came down from the head table quickly to see what was going on.

"Finius, may we inquire as to why you have Mrs Tonks with you, this is, most unusual" Dumbledore inquired as he glanced to Andromeda before looking back to the small charms professor.

Flitwick cleared his throat, "As I was just about to inquire with Mr Black here, his Aunt has expressed concerns for his education over some missives that they have exchanged in regards to his potions education" he began to explain, "having received numerous complaints of a similar nature from various students of all ages in the past all in regards to Professor Snape's teaching methods or if the complaints are to be believed the lack therefore of"

Mentally Magnus scoffed as he remembered his first potion lesson with the greasy bat just the other day. The man could not teach worth a damn. He gave his little speech and then proceed to give out a page number to the class and a time limit in which they had to brew the potion in before leaving them to it as he sculked around the classroom sneering and making snide comments until someone made a mistake when he inevitably pounced on they and began to take points off and then ridicule them before vanishing their potion and telling them to start again. And then at the end of the class, he instructed them to write an essay for the next class about the potion they had just brewed, honestly the man could not teach.

Snape sneered at the explanation, "I would think that the opinions of first years would be irrelevant, given how very little they know about the actual material to critique my teaching methods" he said glancing at Magnus with a glare of annoyance and anger.

"Be that as it may," Professor Flitwick continued, "the complaints I have gotten in the past have not always been from first-year students, many of the older past students have had very little to say in the way of positive reactions to your classes Severus, and even Mrs Tonks has had similar experiences with her daughter who has now graduated last year"

Andromeda nodded, "If I recall Nymphadora's recollection of your teaching methods," she commented glaring at Snape, "they could be summed up into one line, "instructions are on the board, you have so much time" and then you proceed to walk around until someone makes a mistake before swooping in to take points and berate students and vanish imperfect potions. Last I checked that isn't how you teach Potions."

Snape glared at her, eyes filled with loathing and Andromeda glared back with equal amounts of hatred for the greasy dungeon bat. Magnus could swear that he could see sparks in the air between where their gazes met.

Dumbledore, however, stepped in after a couple of seconds to keep things from escalating, "now now, I'm sure there must be some kind of mistake, Severus is a fine Professor and he has my utmost confidence, I'm sure this must just be some sort of misunderstanding," he said in a very grandfatherly tone, his eyes twinkling.

Andromeda, however, scoffed at the idea, "it is no mistake headmaster, my nephew is not happy learning under Professor, and I use that term under protest, Snape, and I am sure his friends and classmates aren't either. I am certainly not going to allow my nephews' education to be stunted because of your poor teaching standards. I had to give Nymphadora one on one potions lessons every summer to teach her what she was supposed to know, she would never have gotten into Auror training otherwise." she said firmly, "which is why I will teaching my nephew his potions class personally, and I will offer to teach any other student who does not wish to suffer through _Professor_ Snape's teaching methods."

Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly at Andromeda's statement as he inwardly began to worry, ' _this cannot happen, I control what the students learn here, I have worked too hard to allow this to happen',_ he thought to himself before replying, "I'm afraid my dear that won't be possible you see…" he began to say only to be cut off by Magnus.

"Actually headmaster is will be," Magnus cut in, "its a requirement under the Hogwarts charter, chapter thirteen, paragraph four, subsection b, that "should a student find the teachings offered at Hogwarts school to be subpar or insufficient they may elect to acquire or hire someone to teach them that meets their standards"," he decided having memorize that line for use such an occasion, "and I am sure my Aunt Andromeda will do a fine job in teaching, she has her mastery in potions which is a requirement to teach as well as hold her other job as a healer at St Mungo's"

"Can we also join," Tracey said piping up from beside Daphne, unintentionally opening the floodgates as several other students having overheard the talk of another potions teacher besides Snape started calling out for a place in her classes.

The Weasley twins stood up from their table, "Can we join,", "You're bound to be a hundred,", "no a thousand,", "no ten thousand times better,", ""than that greasy old bat!""

"Ten points from Gryffindor, for insulting a teacher" Snape quickly snapped at them, "each!"

Dumbledore began to frown, this wasn't a part of his plan, ' _Confound it all, I knew I should have tracked down and burned every copy of that infernal charter, even as headmaster I can't change the things the founders put down,'_ he internally raged before sighing and raising his hands for silence before looking back to Andromeda, "are you sure about this Andromeda, I'm sure that your work at St Mungo's is very important?" he tried one last time.

But Andromeda shook her head, "there are other healers on call, my family comes first, and I refuse to allow Severus's poor teaching standards to affect the students careers any longer, I do not know if you are aware of this headmaster but for the past number of years there has been a large drop in the number of British potion masters and mistresses, which coincidentally coincides with the year that Severus began teaching at Hogwarts school, perhaps that is something you should look into, headmaster"

Inwardly Dumbledore winced, he was more than aware of that fact, he had engineered things to be that way exactly and for good reason, potions was a requirement for joining DLME as an Auror, and with Snape's hatred for children very few students every left Hogwarts with the grades needed to become Aurors, and with their other education limited to what he allowed there would be no one else to stand against any future threats, save for him. This woman was going to be a threat to his system.

"I am aware, but I hardly think that it is fair to lump the failings of the many of the shoulders of the one" Dumbledore responded and quickly continued, "As I see that you are adamant about this, I will have one of the house-elves prepare a room in the dungeons for your classes and…" he began to offer before being cut off this time by andromeda.

"No, I will require a classroom on the first floor or higher, one that has windows and good ventilation, only an idiot would brew in a room without such" Andromeda explained.

Daphne raised her hand, "um why is that?" she asked a little confused, as were many of the other students.

"Because while a storeroom underground is ideal to keep ingredients fresh, it is not ideal for potion brewing because of the fumes that any potions might let out, a confined room with no ventilation can be very dangerous, especially when brewing some of the more trickier potions, in an enclosed space if flumes gather you can easily suffocate or pass out from inhaling too much of them. Not to mention the build-up of residue on the ceiling with so many students brewing in one room, all it would take would be one single drop to fall down into any cauldron and you could risk contamination at best or an explosion at worse" Andromeda explained as each and every student who heard her went ghost white, realising just how lucky they were to walk out of Snape's classroom alive every time.

Snape waved his hand, "the fumes are easily taken care of by an air freshening charm, and the build-up on the ceiling can easily just be vanished after every class" he said dismissing the matter like it was nothing.

"Neither is completely reliable all of the time," Andromeda snapped at Snape before turning to Dumbledore, "so I would much rather have a classroom that meets my requests, headmaster, for the benefit of all of the students' health who are attending my classes"

Dumbledore took a breath and nodded, "very well, I will see to it." he replied, knowing that for the time he had been beaten and would have to yield to the women's demands, not wanting to think about what would be the outcome if he refused her now, if she was to take what she knew and spread rumours about how Hogwarts potion classes are unsafe for their students, though he doubted that it would stay secret for long now given how the students would likely be owling their parents by the end of the class day about this, if not sooner.

"Splendid," Andromeda said with a smirk before she turned to the hall and took her wand out and raised it to her throat muttering " _Sonorus"_ before she began to speak, "Attention students," her voice boomed, "to any who have not heard I am Potion Mistress Andromeda Tonks, and from today onwards I will be offering an alternative potions class than the one you are all currently attending with Professor Snape, I will have an open-door policy with all students. Simply turn up to my room when it is time for your potions lessons and I will teach you instead, thank you" she said before taking her wand away from her throat and spoke " _Quietus,"_ cancelling her spell as the hall began to fill with the mutterings of students discussing what they had just been told, many looking very pleased about it.

Dumbledore gave her a disappointed look, "Was that absolutely necessary Andromeda?" he asked.

Andromeda nodded, "Yes it was headmaster, now if you do not mind I think I will have breakfast with my nephew and his friends, please send a house-elf to escort me to my classroom once it is set up," she said as she moved to sit beside a grinning Magnus and across from a smiling Daphne and Tracey.

Dumbledore only gave a defeated sigh while inwardly raging as he turned to make his way back to the head table, followed by a neutral looking Professor McGonnagal and a fuming Snape. Flitwick gave a chuckle, "I'll leave you to it then" he said before he went to join the other professors at the head table.

As soon as he was out of earshot Magnus grinned to Andromeda, "that was brilliant, Snape looked like he wanted to hex you" he chuckled to himself.

Andromeda smirked, "I wish he would have tried, it would have given me ample reason to kick his arse all over the great hall, never did like him even when we went here together" she mused as she began to fill her plate from the food on the table.

Meanwhile, up at the head table, the sounds of Snape complaining to Dumbledore could be heard as he began to go off on a private tirade about how insulting it was to have another potion master teaching here as if he wasn't good enough.

Only for McGonnagal to cut him off mid-rant, "Oh would you give it a rest Severus, you have no one to blame but yourself. It's not just Filius but myself and Pomona included who have gotten numerous complaints about your teaching methods over the years. If you didn't want someone to come in and do a better job than you, you should have stepped up, as far as I'm concerned it was only a matter of time until this happened"

Snape looked furious at the insinuation and stood up from the table with a scowl on his face and with a final glare at McGonagall and then at Andromeda turned and left through the back entrance the door banging shut behind him.

Andromeda smirked and glanced to Professor McGonnagal and raised her glass, a gesture that the Scottish woman returned both smirking.

* * *

 **Time skip**

By coincidence, it just so happened that the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor first years had potions class later that morning, so it was no surprise when each and every one of them turned up outside Andromeda's classroom door on the second floor of the castle.

Magnus was already waiting outside with Daphne and Tracey when the Gryffindor students began turning up. He smirked when he saw Harry and Ron coming down the hall, "Hey cousin, you skipping out on Snape too?" He joked.

Harry gave a smirk, "are you joking, of course, I am. Your Aunt is bound to be way better at teaching than Snape."

Magnus smirked, "true, though she might be my aunt she's your cousin, once removed remember"

Harry's smile grew at that remembering the long chat he and Magnus had the day before, he had been extremely happy to learn that he had way more family than just the Dursley's.

Ron, on the other hand, seemed to scrunch up his face, "what are you on about Black, you two aren't cousins!"

Magnus rolled his eyes, while Harry sighed, "yes we are Ron, my Grandmother was a Black before she married my grandfather and became a Potter, that's how I'm related to him," he explained.

"So yes Weasley Harry and I are related," Magnus added, "and although it pains me to admit it so are the two of us."

"What!" Ron said wide-eyed, "no way I'm not related to you!" Sounding completely scandalised.

Magnus nodded, "we are, your grandfather, Septimus Weasley, married Cedrella Black, that makes us related by blood, though thankfully it's distant like second cousins once removed or something. Though I'm not sure if it still stands seeing as she was disowned for the act of your grandfather." Magnus explained and looked to think for a moment, ' _hmmm perhaps that would be a good way to make House Weasley an ally, if I were to welcome back Cedrella back to the family, if she's still alive that is'_ he thought to himself, ' _I'll have to ask Andy about her,'_

Ron looked to be getting redder by the second, "she was not, my grandmother wasn't a dark witch, take that back!" He yelled.

It just so happened that the next second the classroom door opened to reveal Andromeda standing behind it, not looking impressed in the slightest. "I will have you know Mr Weasley, that my great aunt Cedrella was a very dark witch, one who cared about family dearly even though she was as dark as the rest of us, and it broke my heart when she was disowned for marrying your grandfather, but she was content with it. It was she who offered me aid when I was cast out of the family for marrying my husband, a muggle-born, and I still to this day meet up with her twice a month to have tea and catch up" she stated firmly.

Magnus smirked, ' _well I guess that answers that. I'll have to send a couple of letters later then,'_ he thought to himself as he looked at Ron who was reaching a new shade of red.

"My grandmother was not a Dark witch! You're all liars!" Ron yelled before turning and stomping off angrily, the other first-years moving out of his way as he went.

Once Ron was out of sight Andromeda just shook her head, "I swear Molly has ruined that boy" she muttered to herself before looking to the rest of the students, "well what are you waiting for, come in and sit down, two students to a cauldron," she instructed.

The students were all quick to obey and filed into the classroom which Magnus could see had been well outfitted on such short notice. There were many desks set up in five rows of four, with two cauldrons on each desk, meaning that the classroom could manage up to forty students at a time which was more than enough space for everyone.

One of the walls had three large windows that were open wide that left the room floor with light, as well as let a crisp breeze in from outside to vent the room.

Andromeda quickly made her way up to her desk which was to the left of a large blackboard with a large trunk under it.

Andromeda tapped the trunk with her wand and it opened up as stacks of bound parchment came out of it followed by many cardboard boxes, way more than the trunk should have been able to hold, showing that it was expanded on the inside.

The parchments separated and divided up among the students and a box floated over with them to each student.

"Now then, before we begin, the first thing we shall all be going is going over the rules in this classroom, along with the safety procedures, that I expect each and everyone of you to follow," Andromeda said as she tapped a piece of chalk with her wand and the chalk lifted up and began to write on the blackboard what she just said, "potions may seem simple to all of you, and at first glance many make that same mistake but make no mistake about this, it can be just as dangerous as any other craft in magic, if you make a mistake in brewing there is a very high chance that you or your partner will get hurt because of that mistake."

Each and every student in the room was sitting still and giving Andromeda their full attention. Magnus and Harry sitting next to one another at their table we're no exceptions.

"Mistakes happen to even the best of us, which is why we will be taking precautions, the boxes that you each have been given, have your first piece of protective gear inside" Andromeda said as she fished a pair of clear goggle glasses, "whenever you are brewing, each of you will wear a pair of these, my husband introduced me to them some years ago, they are a muggle invention made to protect your eyes should the potion you are brewing react badly and spit, each have been enchanted to make them stronger than they normally would be. I cannot tell you how many potential potion masters and mistresses have lost their eyesight because of a potion spitting into their eye or eyes, I do not want any of that happening to any of you"

Many students were nodding and looking at their goggles like they were rare gifts.

"Next" Andromeda said as she waved her wand and pairs of long aprons and gloves hovered out and flew over to each student, "the gloves are to be worn when you are handling any ingredients, to prevent any of the more potent ingredients, and the aprons are to be worn at all times when brewing, both are charmed and are lined with Dragonhide to protect you should you make a mistake in your brewing and your potion react violently," Andromeda continued to lecture, "at the end of every class you will make sure your workstation is clear and your goggles are back in their box, your apron folded with your gloves and placed neatly on top of your desk for the next student to use,"

Each student accepted the aprons and gloves gratefully. Magnus took the apron, and put it to the side, he remembered Andromeda talk about all of this the night before in their mirror call. She had been ecstatic at his suggestion that she come to Hogwarts to teach, and now he could see why.

* * *

 **Time skip**

What followed after that was a fifteen-minute lecture on all of the classroom rules and what the students could expect in each of her classes before she proceeded to walk them through the brewing steps for the first potion they would be brewing, the cure for boils.

She made sure to walk through each step slowly and took them through the reason why each step took place, and why it happened in that particular order. Explaining how each ingredient reacted to one another.

Once she was done and her cauldron emptied into multiple phials, she then walked the students through the process of how to properly clean down their stations to leave it ready for the next class.

Once she was done she began to have each student recites the brewing process of the potion before picking out various students at random and asked them what a particular stage of the brewing was. All to make sure that they knew the recipe off by heart to help prevent any mistakes. Only then did she let the students go to collect their ingredients and turn on their cauldrons to begin the brewing process as she walked around watching closely to make sure no one was making any mistakes.

The remaining time passed quickly once the brewing process began and Andromeda smiled as the last student was bottling their potion, another top quality batch that she would be more than happy to send to Madam Pomfrey, her stores would be well-stocked for boils after this. There had not been one mistake throughout the whole lesson.

"Very well done, if I could award points each of you five points," Andromeda praised, "now for next class I want a half foot parchment from each of you, covering all the details on the potion we covered here today, with emphasis on the most crucial parts of the brewing process. You may begin cleaning up your stations."

Each of the students moved to clear up their stations and wipe them down just as Andromeda had walked them through.

When Magnus was finished he took the leftover ingredients back over to the expanded storage cupboard, where he ran into Neville Longbottom who was doing the same for his station.

Magnus smiled when he saw him and greeted him, "Heir Longbottom, do you have a moment to spare?" He asked politely using Neville's formal title for this first interaction.

Neville seemed to flinch when Magnus called him that but stopped none the less and nodded, his Heir training under his grandmother reminding him that he should always respond in kind when addressed by another of equal rank as such. "Y-Yes Heir Black, I have a moment"

Magnus nodded, "thank you, Heir Longbottom, I promise not to take up much more of your time than absolutely needed but this is a matter that I have been meaning to speak with you about since coming to Hogwarts and this is the first opportunity I have had to do so with a clear mind," he explained, "I should have approached you when I approached Heir Potter yesterday, but because of my interaction with Ronald Weasley I feared my emotions would get the better of me should he have spoken up another time."

Neville swallowed with how nervous he was with how serious Magnus was being, "w-what is this about?" He asked as everyone in the room seemed to be focused on the pair of them now.

Magnus nodded, "my apologies for not coming to the point sooner, this is about the travesty committed by a member of my house upon house Longbottom, more specifically, the heinous actions during the end of the last war by one Bellatrix LeStrange nee Black, against the current Lord and Lady Longbottom, your parents"

The entire room was silent as all eyes turned to a ghost white Neville who was looking at Magnus as if he had just slapped him.

Andromeda watched the scene with a firm and resolved expression on her face, she knew what was about to happen, Magnus had talked to her about it in the weeks following her reinstatement into House Black, and she had fully agreed with what he was about to do.

Seeing Neville wasn't going to respond Magnus continued, "the actions of my family against yours are something that turns my stomach, it was by her hand that you were robbed of the chance to have your parents with you in any capacity that mattered, and regardless of the fact that it was during a war, does not sit well with me in the slightest. However I know that no number of apologies could ever make up for what a member of my house has stolen from you, but if you would permit me, I would like to make the first step in hopefully repairing relationships between our houses so that we may move past this and strive for a better future for both your houses" Magnus offered as he drew his wand from his sleeve and many of the students began to mutter about what was going to happen.

Neville was so shocked he didn't know what to say, his grandmother had always cursed the House of Black and the Lestranges for what had happened to his parents, he didn't know what to make of this.

Magnus nodded as he brought his wand up into the air above them as he spoke out, "I Magnus Roark Black, Heir and Head of Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, hereby dissolve the marriage between Rudolphus Lestrange and Bellatrix Black, and demand that the dowry of their union be paid to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Longbottom for crimes committed by Bellatrix Black against House Longbottom. So I say, so I swear, so mote it be!" He intoned as the tip of his wand lit up and sparks of magic swirled around him, signalling that the family magics were accepting of his command, but he wasn't done, as the sparks faded he spoke again, "I Magnus Roark Black, Heir and Head of Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, hereby banish Bellatrix Black from the House of Black, for crimes against house values, association with the former Dark Lord Voldemort, and for the crimes committed against House Longbottom. Never again may she claim shelter under the roof of House Black, never again may the magic of the family aid her, never again shall she bare the name of the house that she no longer belongs to, so I say, so I swear, so mote it be!"

With another bright flash from his wand, the air around Magnus shimmered brightly as it sparked before fading, signalling that his commands had once again been carried out. And almost instantly, many of the students began muttering about what they were witnessing.

The few of those in the room knowledgeable about what they had just seen explained to the others about what it meant for Bellatrix, who would now be known as Bellatrix no name, a great mark on any pureblood witch or wizard, as it showed they were no longer wanted by their house for their actions and could never again associate with that house again, not to mention cutting her off from the family's magic she would feel the drain now. If she were not already in Azkaban she would be a pariah, no one respectable would want to have anything to do with her.

Neville stood in front of Magnus in complete shock and awe as he watched Magnus put his wand away before he offered his hand to him.

"I know this won't change what you have lost Neville, but I hope that it can give you some kind of peace and in time, we might both move past the shadows of the past and look towards a brighter and more prosperous future for both our houses," Magnus said smiling.

Neville stares at his hand for several seconds his mind running a mile a minute trying to think about what just happened, it was all just so sudden. Slowly he swallowed and nodded as he reached out and took Magnus' hand and smiled back, "t-thank you, Magnus, I hope so too" his grandmother would never believe this.

The rest of the students began to mutter around the room about what this meant, however none of them would realise how monumental the event was that they had just witnessed, of how this one act would later lead to one of the greatest alliances to ever form between the houses of Black, Potter and Longbottom, and how the world would change drastically because of it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine - Brooms and Honor duels**

The days since Andromeda had taken over most of the potions classes had gone by relatively quickly with the students from Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff all going to Andromeda instead of going to Snape for their potions lessons.

The only holdouts were the Slytherin students. Magnus suspected at first that Snape actually taught they properly because they were his own house, but Daphne had informed him the third day after Andromeda had started teaching, after speaking with one of the girls she knew in the house of the snake, that he was just as bad with them. The only reason as to why they didn't go to Andromeda for lessons was because Snape had forbidden them from doing so and threatened harsh punishment for anyone caught doing so.

And it was just like that, that Magnus lost what little respect that he had left for the potions master.

But on the brighter side of things, he, Tracey, Daphne, Harry and Nevill had actually been progressing really well in their potions class with Andromeda teaching. She took the time to lecture and go into great detail about the brewing process and answer any questions that any students posed to her and was always watching over them all when they were brewing to make sure that no accidents happened.

Over the past couple of days, Magnus, Harry and Neville had also gotten closer, with Neviell actually starting to open up slowly to both boys as their friendship grew. When Neville had heard about Harry's lack of heir training he had instantly offered to help Harry study and prepare for when he grew older and joined Magnus and harry during their private study sessions over the next couple of days to help fill in the blanks where Magnus was unsure.

But potions hadn't been the only class the five of them had been excelling at, with the exceptions of history and defence, they had all been progressing well in their other classes, having no trouble with one subject for long before one of the others stepped in to help the other out, and the teachers had taken notice giving points for inter-house unity, they had gained a fair few points.

But right at this very moment none of that mattered to Magnus as he stood out with the rest of his class out in the castle courtyard looking down at the item at his feet with mild annoyance and irritation. A ratty old broom.

Yes, it was finally time for him how to ride a broom, and at first, he had been all for the idea. Sure it might not have been something that he thought would have been all that comfortable but he had been willing to give it a go. That was until he saw the state of the brooms that they had to learn with.

' _Seriously, this is what they expect us to fly on?'_ Magnus thought to himself as he looked at it, ' _it looks like it will snap the second I try to take off.'_ he mentally groaned.

But regardless of his hesitations he obeyed Madam Hooch when he was told what to do and held his hand out over his broom and ordered it up to his hand. He was less than impressed when it lifted up just slightly before falling back to the ground.

He glared at the broom before ordering it again, to the same effect. He was getting frustrated, but his anger was placated slightly seeing that he wasn't the only unfortunate one in his ground to have the problem, as several others were having similar problems and Madam Hooch didn't look surprised as she waited.

Eventually after another dozen tries Magnus finally got his broom to reach his hand, if barely. Before being told to mount it and grip it tight.

Doing so he winced slightly as he heard the wood crack a little under his hands and feared his previous worry about the broom snapping may actually come through given how frail the wood felt in his hands as he adjusted himself to try and get comfortable on it, with was rather difficult considering how he was going to be riding a long thin wooden pole that ran between his legs and would likely ride up once he took off.

He did not voice his worries however and prepared to follow Hooch's commands as he braced himself for his first time flying, if only for a little bit. He needn't have bothered.

As soon as Hooch blew her whistle and Magnus kicked off the ground to hover in the air, he felt himself lift for a single second before he was flipped on his axis, arse over teakettle as he heard something snap before he landed flat on his back with a thud on impact and a groan from him as he realised just what had happened.

The broom had lifted up alright, he'd been flying, all of about seven feet. The broom had taken him up a few feet before its back end had decided to climb higher and literally flip him off it snapping its body in the process and sending them both to the ground, much to Magnus' embarrassment.

He could only groan and shake his head as Hooch came over to check on him, "I hate brooms"

* * *

 **Timeskip**

It was two hours later that Magnus was pacing back and forth in his trunk ranting angrily, "honestly what the hell are they thinking, making children ride ratty old brooms like those, it's a miracle it didn't break when I was up higher," he raged his hands rubbing through his hair that was a dark red at the moment in his anger.

He had been informed by Madam Hooch while he was in the hospital wing what had happened. The broom was just too old, after so many uses the enchantments on the broom had finally given out, and when one went it threw the others off and that's what caused the back end to flip on him as it did and throw him off.

Though that had only furthered to stoke Magnus' irritation even further, he had been made to look like a right idiot because the school was too cheap to replace their brooms.

"I mean, this is supposed to be the premium magic school in all magical Britain for fuck sake, and yet they have their students riding around on brooms that are older than their parents!" he continued in his irritation.

He could only imagine the ribbing he was going to get that night when he made his nightly call home to check up on things, sure Andromeda might be here, but he still wanted to call Ted and Tonks to see how they were doing, he had grown rather close to the three of them. He knew that Tonks was going to give him hell about this and laugh his ear off, no doubt Andromeda would have already told her about it, having come to visit him in the hospital wing when she had heard, Tonks would know everything about his first take-off and landing and would never let him hear the end of it.

"I know that it's foolish to give learner drivers spit new cars to drive in, but come on this is just taking it a bit too far, even buying a bunch of second hand brooms every ten or so years would be better than the brooms they have now" Magnus said throwing his hands up in the air as he walked to his desk and slumped into his chair. "Hell I don't know why we even need brooms in the first place, we're magical aren't we" he commented of handly.

Erebus who had been listening to Magnus rant for the past half hour shook his head, ' _ **last I checked partner, magical or not, wizards aren't birds, you don't have wings so you can't fly like us'**_ he commented mentally as if Magnus was going off the deep end.

Magnus smirked, "Oh I beg to differ" he replied before closing his eyes and mentally sent Erebus a recollection of one of the last Harry Potter movies, where when Harry was being moved he was being chased by Voldemort, and how Voldemort was flying without the use of a broom or any other item that could be seen, "If that snake faced, no-nosed fucker can fly then so can I," he said with annoyance, "I just have to figure out the spell and how to do it" he said before sitting forward and taking the mirror out of his desk drawer, "but until then, I'm going to deal with these bloody brooms myself"

* * *

 **Time skip**

It was later that evening at dinner time in the great hall that Magnus was just sitting down to eat when Daphne and Tracey came hurrying over to him.

"What did you do?" Daphne asked suddenly. Magnus raised an eyebrow.

"Why does everything interesting that happens in this school have to have something to do me and not anybody else?" He asked amused.

"Oh please" Daphne rolled her eyes not believing him for a moment and was about to speak before Tracey butted in not wanting to wait, any more.

"Did you really buy a whole new set of brooms for the school? Madam Hooch is ecstatic, apparently, she's been trying to get new brooms for years now but every time she tries to file for the funding for them Dumbledore or the board of governors turn her down" Tracey asked and explained.

Daphne crossed her arms, "and then a few hours ago Andromeda, your aunt, is seen stopping by Madam Hooch's office with a large trunk and leaves without it, and then during the next flying lesson all of the students are suddenly practising with spit new Comet 260s, admit it Magnus you did something"

Magnus put his hand on his chest, "why I never Daphne." he said sounding scandalised, "to accuse me of buying thirty new brooms for the school because it's too cheap to afford to buy them for its students, after I had been a victim of one of those ratty old brooms breaking and tossing me, you clearly have a wild imagination" he said unable to hide his smirk.

Daphne smirked, "so you're not the one responsible for Hooch giving Ravenclaw over two hundred points for that little gesture of "extreme kindness"," she said gesturing to the point counters at the top of the hall.

Magnus looked and he had to blink a couple of times to make sure he wasn't seeing things, Ravenclaws counter was way ahead of the others, "hmmm," he said before shrugging, "sure I'll take credit for that" he smirked while inwardly thinking, ' _Lets see that old goat give the house cup to Gryfindor now'_

Daphne rolled her eyes while Tracey giggled as they sat down at the table to get their dinner, their pieces said as they began to eat.

Just as he was about to take another mouthful of food something Daphne had said clicked with him and he paused, "hey Daphne, did you mention a second first-year class after ours went for flying lessons?" he asked thinking he might have heard wrong.

Daphne arched an eyebrow but nodded her head, "yes, it was the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years, honestly whoever thought about…." she began to say but Magnus's mind was elsewhere at that moment as things began to click in his head.

He may have begun to change things in the canon but right at this very moment he had done very little to change the current events of things, and if things played out as they did in the canon at this point then that meant…..

Looking over to the Gryffindor table in a hurry Magnus searched for Harry, and it didn't take long to find him, and the platinum idiot heading right over towards Harry from the Slytherin side.

Magnus rose from his seat and instantly began planning as he quickly made his way over to stop things before they got into motion, he could think of only one way right now to do so, and it was a hell of a risk to pull off this early, but he didn't really have much of a choice in the matter.

If he let things play out, then it was more than likely that Harry would get sucked into the whole Philosopher stone mess that Dumbledore had set up. Magnus wanted to delay that a bit longer, if he was right Dumbledore would just use some other means to get Harry interested in exploring the tunnel but for now he wanted the stone all to himself. Plus this would actually fit nicely into his overall plan for things involving House Blacks future, and there was no time like the present to get started on those.

Magnus hurries along arriving at the confrontation just in time to hear Malloy Male his challenge.

"I'd take you on any time, on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only…" he began to say before Magnus stepped up.

"I would think that House Malfoy would have other concerns that they need to attend to first before they go out issuing honour duels with other houses over petty matters like this" Magnus spoke gaining their attention.

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked indignantly, "House Malfoy has no qualms with the House of Black!"

"I see it otherwise, or is your memory so short that you have forgotten about the insult that your father, Lord Malfoy, levied towards me not but a few days ago by issuing slander against my claim to being the rightful heir to the House of Black." Magnus stated as Draco seemed to go pale with realisation, "Slander that was printed in black and white for all to read, and yet even all these days later I have not received a missive of apology nor have his words been publicly retracted. I would think that I have given your father more than enough time to do so, but as it's clear that he has no intent to do so I am left with only one alternative as a response to the insults levied against my house from yours."

Magnus' little speech seems to have garnered the attention of the other tables at this moment as all the students fell silent as Magnus' next words booked out for all to hear.

"I Magnus Rorak Black, Heir to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, hereby challenge you Draco Lucius Malfoy, Heir to the Magical House of Malfoy to an honour duel for the insults levied by Lord Malfoy against my house, person and honour. A duel to settle the matter once and for all, a duel between the heirs of our houses to restore lost honour" Magnus stated officially having researched deeply into honour duels recently, with the prospect of having to face others in the setting.

Draco's face was chalk white, which wasn't that much different from his usual completion, as students began to mutter around them, most of them in confusion about what was happening. He could feel the eyes of his fellow purebloods and the whole of Slytherins house eyes on him, he was about to speak and respond before another voice cut in.

"What is going on here, stop this foolishness and get back to your tables" the irritated voice of Severus Snape intervenes as he swooped in.

Severus has been watching his godson from afar knowing the boy would be up to something but didn't know what, he was about to let the challenge to Potter go ahead knowing that his godson would put the arrogant little brat in his place, but Black was an unknown and so Severus felt it best to intervene and put a stop to this before it went too far, Magnus was having none of it.

"This is a matter between the Houses of Black and Malfoy, it is not under your preview to interfere Professor Snape, nor does this matter concern the houses of Snape nor Prince, so be silent" Magnus snapped back at him causing Severus to stagger back a step as if slapped.

Snape's eyes were wide after hearing Magnus' words, the mention about his house was expected, but not the mention of his mother's house which had been what had shocked him, ' _how...How did he know that…. no one should'_

Magnus turned his attention back to Malfoy who seemed to realise that he wouldn't be getting any aid from his godfather and head of house with this problem and because he had made the challenge so public like this Draco was left with only one choice.

' _Damn it, why did this have to happen, I was just trying to get one over on Potter and now this,'_ Draco mentally groaned before straightening up, "very well, I Draco Lucius Malfoy, Heir to the Magical House of Malfoy accept your challenge, what are your terms"

Magnus nodded, "a duel between heirs, just us, no seconds, to be held here in the great hall Saturday evening after lunch, agreed"

Draco nodded his head, "agreed, and when you lose the words of my father stand, and we demand suitable monetary satisfaction for the insult towards our honour for this duel" he said mentally patting himself on the back for his wording, it would allow his father to take any amount from the House of Black as reprisals. His father would be able to completely drain the Black family vault dry, so even if Draco wouldn't be able to get a hold of the wealth now that Magnus was the heir, it wouldn't matter as they would effectively be knutless and House Malfoy would just be able to buy its way up the ranks.

Magnus could see what Draco was planning through his wordplay but didn't seem to be bothered by it and just nodded back, "agreed, and when you lose House Black demands an immediate apology from Lord Malfoy for his insults towards House Black and a retraction to be printed of his insults on the front page of the daily profit as well as monetary satisfaction to be paid in reprisals to the sum of fifty thousand galleons"

There was a hiss of an intake of breath from all the purebloods in the hall when Magnus named the reprisal amount, fifty thousand galleons was no small amount, and Draco looked like he wanted to faint at the mention of such an amount, he'd been down to the Malfoy family vault and knew they had more than enough to pay it but it was still no small amount. He knew his father would be less than pleased with him putting such an amount on the line but he had little choice in the matter now Magnus had played him into this and if he backed out now it would only look worse on his house.

"agreed" Draco states reluctantly as the air shimmered around them as golden strands of magic seems to manifest which signalled that magic had bound them as the agreement had been made, there was no backing out now.

As the magic faded Snape came forward again and placed his hand on Draco's shoulder and quickly began to lead his godson away and out of the hall obviously going to his office so that Draco could contact his father to inform him of what had just transpired. Snape giving Magnus a wary look as they left.

As soon as Malfoy led the hall whispers began to break out all around the hall about what had just happened. Those closes to Magnus began asking him questions.

"What was that for!" Ron yelled angrily

"Why did you do that?" Harry asked worriedly

"What was all that? What was that bright light, you didn't cast a spell? What's all this about magical houses?" Hermione began to ask one question after another from the other side of the table.

Magnus let out a sigh, his serious attitude dropping as he saw Daphne and Tracey come rushing over to him along with Professor Flitwick who was scampering behind them as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Magnus that was awesome!" Tracey smirked.

"Tracey no it wasn't, Magnus what were you thinking!" Daphne began to berate him.

"Mr Black," Professor Flitwick spoke cautiously, "was that absolutely necessary, honour duels are not something to be trifled with"

Magnus sighed, "yes Professor I am, it was something that needed to be addressed now. I've been putting it off but it would have happened sooner or later. If I may, I'd like to request that you be the judge for the duel and take care of the formalities for it, I understand that an auror has to be present for any honour duel to make sure that everything is by the book."

The small Professor nodded, "very well Mr Black, I will gladly be the judge to make sure that things run smoothly and will contact the DMLE to have an auror come to oversee as well, Saturday after lunch wasn't it?"

Magnus nodded, "yes sir," he said before looking to Daphne, "I was thinking that I needed to deal with Malfoy now rather than later, it was going to happen eventually Daphne, and I intend to see this through,"

"But what if Malfoy called his father to be his champion like I warned you he could" Daphne stated clearly unpleased by being surprised by this sudden turn of events, she didn't like being surprised.

"If Malfoy wants to be a worm and have his father fight in his place, then I will deal with it," Magnus replied plainly, "I have already accounted for that."

Daphne seemed to huff but didn't say anything more on the subject, Magnus knew he would be hearing more from her about it later though, she wasn't the type to just let things lie.

Magnus looked to Tracey next with a smirk, "thank you, I'm glad I could provide you with some entertainment during your dinner," he said and gave a little mock bowl making Tracey snort, Daphne rolled her eyes and Professor Flitwick chuckled.

Looking to Hermione next, Magnus cleared his throat, "Miss Granger, if you have any questions about what just happened, please direct them to Professor Flitwick or any pureblood students, I'm sure they will be able to answer any questions for you" he instructed her, knowing that she would likely have a hundred questions for him before he looked to Harry.

"Cousin, relax, I already had a beef with Malfoy, I saw he wanted to start something with you and stepped in to settle things with him first, he's a problem I would have sorted out anyway. I just chose to do it now so to save you from having to deal with him" Magnus explained but Harry didn't look all that convinced, "oh and congratulations on making seeker by the way" Magnus added grinning.

Inwardly Harry was grateful for Magnus' actions, he was going to just turn down the duel anyway, after all, he only had three days schooling under his belt, what did he know about fighting duels, but Magnus was in the same position as him and he seemed so confident about things, he didn't know what to think and could only sigh before saying, "thanks."

Magnus only glanced to Ron before rolling his eyes, "piss off Weasley, this has nothing to do with you," he said plainly before turning away.

"What!" Ron replied indignantly. But Magnus just ignored him and he began walking down the hall heading for the exit.

"Where are you going!" Daphne called to him.

"It's still dinner time!" Tracey called as well.

"To the dorms, incase it escaped both your notices I have a duel to prepare for in just under two days" Magnus called back as he left the great hall, and the whispering doubled as he left.

* * *

 **Scene break**

Magnus quickly began making his way back to the Ravenclaw dorms his mind began to race as he began running over everything that just happened and began running over the mental plans that he had already formed for this situation.

' _Erebus, I've done it, I've challenged Malfoy to the duel'_ Magnus mentally called out in his mind as he sent a copy of his memories over their link.

Magnus felt his familiar bristle with annoyance, ' _ **I thought you were going to give it another week before you challenged that little ferret, what caused the change in plans?'**_

Magnus sighed as he reached the entrance to the common rooms, ' _Malfoy was about to challenge Harry to an honour duel, I intervened and challenged Malfoy instead'_

Magnus felt Erebus's confusion as he entered through the portal into the common room area, ' _ **things are changing already, I don't recall seeing that happen in the memories of the movies you showed me'**_ Erebus recounted, referring to the memories of the movies that Magnus had been showing him while he practised his Occulmancy in the mornings, they had only gotten through the first two movies so far, aside from the odd scenes that Magnus had shared because he found them amusing.

' _It's not from the movies, it's from the books, the movies didn't include everything,' Magnus explained as he started up the stairs to the dorm room, 'Malfoy was pissy after Harry didn't get expelled after the stunt during their first flying lesson and so was going to set Harry up to get caught by Filch out of bed to try and get him in trouble again, it would have lead to him running into fluffy and started him down the whole corridor question route,'_

' _ **And you intervened, why?'**_ Erebus asked confusion still in the link.

Magnus gave a mental shrug as he went into his room and closed the door, ' _well for one now that I'm not concerning myself with no longer maintaining the status quo, I didn't see a reason not to, and another reason is that with Harry clueless about the corridor he has no reason to go near it yet. At least until Dumbledore does something to put it in his sights, it gives me a bit more breathing room to plan more on how to get my hands on the stone for myself' he thought as he opened his trunk and started down the ladder inside._

' _ **It's a risky play partner, changing events like that purposefully, you might not know how things will play out now,'**_ Erebus warned him.

Magnus chuckled as he made his way from the entrance to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and began to make his way towards the training room, ' _what does it matter now, I know the key aspects and as long as they stay the same I will still have the advantage, the dark prat is still on the back of Quirrell's head, the stone will be in the mirror of Erised and I know how to get it out. I know how to get past each of the trials to get to it, and once we know it's in place it will be a cakewalk'_ Magnus recited back as he walked into the training room.

Over the past couple of days, the two of them had worked out exactly when the stone would be in place. Dumbledore needed Harry to be exposed to the mirror of Erised before he put it in place to hold the stone, so it would be after Christmas or Yule that the stone would be in place and ripe for the taking.

Erebus remained silent after that, which Magnus took as him thinking more on the facts, for now, his familiar got like that sometimes he could be rather studious when he wanted to be and got lost in his own mind, quite like him at times.

Magnus chose to leave him to his thoughts and went to take off his outer school robes to get ready to start his spell casting when he heard the door open to the training room and looked to see who it was his wand flicking out into his hand on reflex ready to cast, but he stopped when he saw who it was.

"Andy?" Magnus said in confusion seeing his Aunt coming in, "what are you doing here?"

Andromeda gave him a smirk, "I just came from the great hall where I heard about your little stunt with Draco," she stated openly, smirking a bit more when she saw his wand already in his hand.

Magnus sighed, "things happened," he stated back as he continued to take his robes off.

"Oh do tell?" Andromeda asked. And Magnus knew it wasn't a request, and so proceeded to inform her about what had happened.

When Magnus finally got through telling his tale Andromeda was tapping her arm with her finger pensively and nodding her head, though Magnus couldn't tell if it was in agreement or irritation.

"While your actions were a bit brash and no doubt reckless, I agree that your challenge was justified," Andromeda finally stated after several moments, "you dealt with the matter professionally and handled yourself well in regards to Draco's wording. And as you said that you intended to wait longer before issuing your challenge only being forced into it by what you perceived Draco was going to do your brashness can be justified. However, I would ask what you intend to do if Draco decides to call his father to take his place? I trust your not foolish enough to think you can face Lucius Malfoy head-on in a duel at your age?"

Magnus shook his head, "I was planning on asking you to champion for me if it came to that, I'm willing to bet I can take Draco in a duel, his father is a different matter, and I have no doubt that Lucius would take over for Draco in a heartbeat with what's on the line"

Andromeda seemed to get a predatory smile when Magnus mentioned championing for him and nodded, "good, I've been wanting to wipe that smirk off his face even before he was betrothed to Narcissa, he was always a pompous arrogant ass" she said happily with his reasoning, "now then" she said as she began loosening the buttons on her sleeves, "since you have a duel coming up I think it's best if I leaned you a hand in getting ready,"

Magnus blinked, "really?" He asked not exactly having expected that, though something told him he shouldn't have been surprised.

"Oh yes, I'm not about to let my newest and favourite nephew get his posterior handed to him in a duel, even if it is by another one of my nephews" Andromeda said as she walked a bit away from him taking her wand from her sleeve, "now show me what has you so confident that you can handle your cousin in a duel, and then I'll show you how a proper Black duels"

Magnus smirked confidently as he took up a duelling stance and began to cast, confident in his ability, not noticing the smirk on Andromeda's face. Less than an hour later he would know what real skill was, and that Bellatrix wasn't the only Black sister that should be feared.


End file.
